Pharmaceutical ads on TV etc

1. 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......
2. 

   About sharann

   Joined: Feb '01; Posts: 1,840; Likes: 217
   RN

   20 Comments

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3. 
   Feb 15, '02

   Welcome to wildwest style, rampant, totally free capitalism. Yippie-ki-yey!!!!! You have the option of not watching TV, opening magazines, listening to radio or stuff like that, right? I quit watching TV, and all that, awhile ago, and I noticed a change in my consciousness, and I started to have more authenic and meaniful dreams at night. Just like you, all these drug messages started to become offensive to me as a human, and, I too, wondered why some "higher power" in media didn't step in to stop all the quackery. It's a free country, and anyone has the right to say anything the want. Surprised? Don't be. Many people enjoy feeding on these drugs, so, there are gonna be many people who will feed them. And, they will launch entire campaigns designed to make REALLY believe that these drugs are fulfilling a need you have. (mario laughs)
   I was knocked out when they stopped cigarette advertising. Supposed to be a free country; and cigarettes are legal. Now, folks are marketing designer mood drugs and aiming them at us in sexy ways. It's monkey-business. They bomb you with messages to eat whacked out foods, then go on whacked diets, to look whacked out, then they'll sell you drugs to help you because you feel whacked out. This is the land of the free, but Shar, don't forget, you gotta be brave too!!!!!
4. 
   Feb 15, '02

   I think I get your point Mario.
   But I still think that these drug companies are creating monsters out of the misinformed public. They say, "Ask your doctor if Viagra/Paxil/Prilosec/Nexium/Zocor/Allegra....is right for you" and so on. Then the docs are pressured to prescribe. Look at antibiotic overuse and all the penicillin resistant strains we are dealing with now. I just question the ethics involved, that's all. As for cigarette advertising, I am not going there but to say I'm glad they stopped on TV, and I hope they stop in other media as well soon (wishful thinking I know).
5. 
   Feb 15, '02

   Well, we could just all pay a higher bill for cable and pay for local channels then we could totally eliminate all ads. I think it's good for the public to be made aware of what's out there and what is available. As long as the public isn't being fed incorrect information, why should we object? Maybe the more the public becomes aware of products, the more control the patient has over his care and the less control the drug rep has over the docs wallet?
6. 
   Feb 15, '02

   Remember: it was only 50 years ago cigarette advertising used to report that doctors recommended them. Same old thing, in brand new drag comes sweeping into view with the other drugs you mention which are pushed to everyone in present day. "Ask your doctor for a perscription." Of course the doctor is gonna want you to be on drugs. Doctor gets a chew on $$$ when you ask for them. Makes me wonder. Be brave!!!
   I thought cigarette advertising was banned because i don't see it no more, at least in Oregon. Imagine how enticing it must be for some men to want to be more virile, or for women to cool a herpes outbreak? Even if you have your own mind, sometimes its very hard to resist that stuff. You just mentioned a phew drugs which are pushed onto people. Folks get so well hypnotised by these commercials they will purchase weekly pill containers so they can load up each day without thinking. (mario shakes his head)
   The way in which foods, diets and drugs are pushed onto people is assulting. Is it okay to suggest a person should eat at McDonalds every day? You betcha. Is McDonalds (for example) dangerous to your health if you eat it everyday. Well, no one has proved it, so, if I want to be remind you to eat there everyday, all the time, its all right. It makes for a strong American economy, right? Seriously :-)
   
   I don't want to make a mockery of a John Cougar Mellencamp song, but....
   
   Ain't that America - for you and me babe
   Ain't that America - something to see babe
   Ain't that America - home of the free
   Little pink [PILLS] for you and me - whooyeah - for you and me
   :roll :roll :roll :chuckle

   Last edit by mario_ragucci on Feb 15, '02
7. 
   Feb 16, '02

   Just read this. What do you think?http://www.msnbc.com/news/707881.asp?0dm=C16RH
8. 
   Feb 16, '02

   I see it in the ER every day everybody is on some kind of mood inhancer. And the commecials make us laugh: anxious? Paxil, Heartburn? Nexium What a rip off. What ever happened to people taking responsibility for thier lives. Anxious? Get over it! Heartburn? Don't eat so much!
9. 
   Feb 17, '02

   My favorite is the racecar driver ad for Viagra.
   Also, the "coupon" for a free "trial" of a drug.
   Please.
   plindfors, I am with you about the Paxil. Anxious, yes we all are. I just love Internists prescribing Zoloft,Paxil and Prozac.
   Oh, how about Sarafem, for PMS? (Of course we know that that is fluoxetine, AKA Prozac)
10. 
    Feb 17, '02

    Just what IS the deal with those Nexium ads, anyway? I find them really creepy. People standing on little outcroppings of rock with waves crashing all about them...I keep wondering what the subliminal message is supposed to be.
    
    And how about the way they fit in all the warnings they are required by law to give...little teeny print at the bottom of the screen read off at the very end of the commercial so fast you can barely make out the words even if you already know what they are saying! What a joke!
    
    The ones that really steam me are the ads for stuff like Zantac and Pepcid. They actually encourage people to go ahead and eat stuff that is going to cause them stomach distress so they can sell them more of their product!
11. 
    Feb 17, '02

    I like the drug rep pens that they pass out! Did you know that you can buy them on Ebay too?
12. 
    Feb 17, '02

    I like the waves crashing ones, because I think of peristalsis, or heart burn rising up from the cardiac spincter. I don't know if the general public makes this connection.
    Next time you watch any TV, do this. Count how many seconds go by before the scene changes. It's hard to notice, unless you think about it, and most of us watch TV to not think.
    People process what they see in a unique way. We can look around and change what we see, and we can close our eyes and imagine stuff, or recall stuff we've seen, or add imagination to stuff we see. I don't want to seem like "Mr. TV Hater", but I feel media has run amock with our visual senses, and no one can stop them.
    Next time you watch TV, count off how many seconds an image lasts before a new image is shown. I find the longest a image is shown is perhaps 2.5 seconds and the shortest is a little less than half a second. That means your brain is processing 45 images a minute! And I notice these drug commercials come in patterns. Like, you'll see 5, one second images, followed by 3, .5 second images, then a 2 second image, then a one second, then a 3 second image, followed by a wave of .75 second images. Like some code has been established to grab your attention.
    If I think about this, while watching, my hippocampus starts to build pressure. If I don't think about it, well, you know.
    I don't want to soap box about TV, just be aware.
13. 
    Feb 18, '02

    I think the viagra ads make it look like you'll be able to dance very well if you take it.
14. 
    Feb 18, '02

    Originally posted by sharann
    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?

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