DoorDash Pokes Fun at Bizarre Health Hacks in Surreal Stills

It’s flu season and ill-informed health hacks are abounding on social media; but as DoorDash’s winter campaign points out, there’s no need to turn your home into a messy DIY science lab – its pharmacy delivery service is just a click away.

A vibrant series of stills from L'ÉLOI director and photographer Gerardo Alcaine captures the desperation that kicks in when no home remedy is enough to get you out of bed. Inspired by the tagline, ‘When health hacks just won’t hack it’, they exaggerate the wacky measures people will resort to in the name of self-care: lemon and chilli foot baths, sticky honey glazes, nauseating smoothies, you name it.

Bursting with colour and detail, the images bring levity to the bleak reality of illness. Frames are crammed with bright, saturated elements juxtaposed in irrational ways, constructing a visual playground that offers viewers plenty to grin, gasp, or grimace at.

Gerardo Alcaine comments, “I wanted to make everything happen on camera, which was quite physically demanding, especially for our talent. She had to do handstands, juggle oranges while sitting on a gym ball, jump in a bath full of citric fruits, and cover herself in honey. These challenges made the day super amusing. I had a great team and we always landed on our feet in the face of each practical obstacle.”

Gerardo’s photography accompanies a film by fellow L'ÉLOI director, Ivan Jurado. Opposite in style yet complementary in its whimsical tone, it takes place in a woman’s dark bedroom, as she resolves to swap illegitimate health advice (involving 10,000 live crickets) for DoorDash-delivered medicine.