When advertisers try to chemistry

On a recent trip to one of the lands, I noticed this billboard advertising a school.

Immediately I LOVED IT because chemistry! But soon after I didn’t love it anymore. The peroxide decomposition equation is wrong, with the subscript 2 following the oxygen instead of the hydrogen in what should be the formula for water. I’d expect a little better from an educational institution.

So then I go inside to Woolies, where they are running some kind of school fundraiser bizzo advertised thusly.

The ad has an adorable kid doing chemistry, so I LOVED IT. He’s unneccessarily wearing a lab coat but that’s OK because where else would he put his carefully askew coloured pens? His safety goggles are on his head but that’s OK – if he whacks himself in the eye with his Molymod he’ll probably live.

And then soon after I didn’t love it anymore. The molymod he’s holding was not a molecule immediately identifiable to me (I am an analytical chemist after all) so like any normal person would do, I opened up ChemDraw and tried to recreate the structure chemkid is holding. There is definitely an aromatic ring in the bottom half… a slightly odd ammonium group near the top… a carbon-nitrogen double bond on the left? a triply-bonded oxygen on the right? IDK but the kid’s hand and the angle of the shot and my general suckiness at this sort of thing made it hard for me to really tell what was going on there other a big ole hot mess.

huh?

I got confused. so like any normal person would do, I got out my own molymod kit and tried to make the molecule. I came unstuck again, mostly because I ran out of carbons and party because it appears to be a made up molecule.

ummm

So, 2 chemistry fails in one shopping trip. Plus Woolies was sold out of my favourite bread. For the record, advertising people, there’s a bunch of chemists on the internet who will help you with this kind of thing for free. For the love of science, all you have to do is not just make shit up.

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