This is only my opinion y'all. I believe that the drug compainies are money grubbing a-sholes who don't give a hoot about the public. I feel they are taking over the media (TV, magazines, billboards...) with their drug campaigning. Half my magazines (non-medical/nursing related) have huge ads with pages of "pt info" to follow. I find this offensive and unethical. These ads must largely contribute to meds increasing and insane prices!
Am I off base here?
If not is there anything we can do to curtail this. I think the ads are a public disservice.
And, don't get me started on M.D's getting gifts and such from drug reps......
Oh, how about Sarafem, for PMS? (Of course we know that that is fluoxetine, AKA Prozac)
Or Zyban to stop smoking which we all know is Bupropion (Welbutrin)..."tell your doctor if you take antidepressants such as Welbutrin" (well no s**t!).
And what do ya'll think of the marketing of the NSAIDs and H2 blockers (etc) at dosages lower than the prescription dosages? It makes me wonder how many people say to themselves "hey I've had this before...I can treat it with 4 of these instead of going to the doctor for a prescription" (I'll confess I've calculated how many OTC=an Rx dose), but what about the people who don't have a medical background?
I remember when "motrin" finally came out OTC! It took years for people to realize that you could take Advil instead of filling that Rx for 600mg etc... I think that the public does have a right to know what meds are out there, I just question the methods and gimmicks they use. I love the free pens and stuff too, but is anything really FREE?
Momrn, I saw that Viagra ad as well. If only I could dance like that.... Do you notice all the disclaimers on the bottom as Aimee mentioned above? I love when the say consult with you doctor first. How else will the get the drug?
I worked in a GI procedure clinic on contract for 5 months, and after a while I started to notice that just about everyone who came in with c/o heartburn, and GI distress was way overweight!
And they were also pressuring the docs for NEXIUM, because of the ads they saw! Don't even try to tell them to stay away from offending intakes like sodas, chocolates, caffiene, eating late at nite, or GOD FORBID to LOSE WEIGHT! Just too much work...give me a DRUG!
Why are women with herpes genitalis targeted with the drugs for herpes outbreaks? Is it only the adventerous women, who enjoy kaiak-trips out in the forests with boyfriends who drive SUV's, the main people who'd be interested in sex? I must have seen that commercial 100x over the holidaze at my sisters. No one seemed to question it. When I did, her friends looked at me like I was strange to talk about it. They said they see it all the time, but tune it out. Little do they know, my brain is NOT a transistor console with knobs and such! I'm physical. Domo arigoto Mr. Roboto :-)
At least now they tell you what the drug is used for. I remember about 7 years ago when I first started to notice the TV ads sometimes they would go into an advertising speil and say the name of the drug but never told you what it was supposed to cure.
I think the ads empower the public to feel like they have a grasp of their condition and can be proactive in working with their doctor to monitor / treat it. But I can see where you might get some patient's that absolutely postively must have the newest drug on the market.
Somewhat off the subject, but I really don't like the dancing stomach in the "Heart Break Hotel" ad.
My fave drug ad of all time- the Meridia commercial that said (quietly, at the end of the ad) "May cause uncontrollable bowel movements" or something like that. Hey, whatever, as long as I lose weight and don't have to do anything drastic like CONTROL what I eat or EXERCISE!! colleen10, the dancing gut freaks me out too!! I think all the ads are a form of brainwashing. Say a drug name enough and people will ask for it.
Imagine how whacked out that Meridia commercial is received abroad. Here is a woman, who is obviously over-fed, but yet she takes a pill to enable herself to waste food.
I was just at Olympic Villiage in SLC, Pfizer has an entire display. They are offering free "health assessments". I wonder if all the people in line thought they were getting free Viagra handouts!!! LOL. Later
...I think the ads empower the public to feel like they have a grasp of their condition and can be proactive in working with their doctor to monitor / treat it.
Maybe the operative words there are "FEEL LIKE". And that is the whole trouble. There is no REAL information about the drugs in these ads. They don't provide information about the condition they are supposed to relieve or provide any instruction about how they work within the body. The possible side effects are fired off at such a machine gun rate as to be completely unintelligible. All the consumer really gets is the name of the drug put in front of them, and some sort of auditory/visual stimuli connected with it to promote a positive association of the drug with symptom relief.
Knowledge and information are empowering. That is not what is being provided here. These are manipulative tools designed to reach us at our most basic level.
kids
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Or Zyban to stop smoking which we all know is Bupropion (Welbutrin)..."tell your doctor if you take antidepressants such as Welbutrin" (well no s**t!).
And what do ya'll think of the marketing of the NSAIDs and H2 blockers (etc) at dosages lower than the prescription dosages? It makes me wonder how many people say to themselves "hey I've had this before...I can treat it with 4 of these instead of going to the doctor for a prescription" (I'll confess I've calculated how many OTC=an Rx dose), but what about the people who don't have a medical background?