Advertising Trickery In Commercials On Medicine

[SlowwHand]

Crapski. My truck battery went out and I spent all afternoon jacking with getting it replaced, so I saw no daytime television. I don't have examples, still.

[SpencerH]

I'd love to see it banned in the US as well. Time and time again I have people come in asking for a drug that has utterly no pertenance whatsoever to their problem. If you examine those commercials closely they often also suggest that if you have symptom "A" you have disease "B" and so you need drug "X". many people don't understand that if you have symptom "X" you might have disease "B", or disease "C", or disease "D" or even no disease at all. After having watched the commercial though they're convinced they absolutely need drug "X", and if you disagree you must be some quack.

It's also generally true that the drugs being advertised are usually new and expensive. Most new drugs being introduced today are derivatives of pre-existing drugs and often no more effective than the other, older, cheaper drugs in their class. Of course, you're not going to here that in a commercial.

There's no doubt that drug advertising on TV is complete bull**** that is designed to cause (mostly) elderly 'patients' to nag physicians into presriptions. I have never understood why it is allowed.

Even more worrisome than commercial advertising by drug companies is the degree of influence over medical research they're acquiring. There is probably not one medical academic department conducting research atany American medical school or medical research institute that doesn't receive income from the companies.

Whether one recieves research money from a company is not necessarily bad. It doesnt preclude one from doing government funded research on more independent questions, and for the most part, it helps to maintain the cohesiveness of the research groups (ie one can pay ones staff while waiting for (hoping for) an NIH grant.

[SpencerH]

Back to the thread topic

The litany of side effects in these commercials is deceptive since the frequency with which they occur is not stated. My guess is that the companies are required by the FDA to mention even the rare adverse events that occured during drug testing. OTOH, even serious side effects may be less problematic than their disease for some patients. The arthritis NSAIDs are a good example of this.

[Flubber]

I tune out most commercials or fast forward them-- I love the PVR technology but I will say that I love the Cialis and Viagra commercials. Lots of funny stuff there

-- the guy that fakes the injury to get away from his co-ed sports night
-- the lady that sabotages her car to ditch her friends
-- the one taht shows no people but you see food burning, a tub overfilling and many other signs that the people have been otherwise engaged for a long long time.



But you are right in that these things should probably not be allowed for most drugs

[rah]

I believe if they say what the drug is for they're required to list the side effects.
Hence why you see some viagra commercials that don't tell you what it's for (since everybody already knows) so they don't have to list the side effects.

While I'm generally against advertising for drugs I will admit that there might be a touch of good from these. Some people may have a condition that they're not aware that there is a drug for and might not think to talk to there doctor about it. Yes, a possible small benefit that I'm not sure outweighs the negatives.

But I will admit that I always get a laugh listening to the side effects they're required to state. You can almost see the executives wince thinking about those they have to disclose. Especially when they include things like death, low sperm count, ED, insomnia (for sleeping pills) etc.

[Flubber]

I believe if they say what the drug is for they're required to list the side effects.
Hence why you see some viagra commercials that don't tell you what it's for (since everybody already knows) so they don't have to list the side effects.

While I'm generally against advertising for drugs I will admit that there might be a touch of good from these. Some people may have a condition that they're not aware that there is a drug for and might not think to talk to there doctor about it. Yes, a possible small benefit that I'm not sure outweighs the negatives.

But I will admit that I always get a laugh listening to the side effects they're required to state. You can almost see the executives wince thinking about those they have to disclose. Especially when they include things like death, low sperm count, ED, insomnia (for sleeping pills) etc.

and the possibilities for side effects just seem endless-- I always like how a drug side effect can be drowsiness OR insominia. The reality is that sone side efefcts seem to operate in different directions on some people.

The reality though is that if they actually had to slowly and audibly list all the potential side-effects, that would take up almost all of the freaking commercial.

Oh and the best drug commercials I have seen were ones for an asthmatic inhaler called Advair-- it seemed to be relatively informative and seemed to just be trying to get the message across if your current inhalers don't regulate your asthma you might want toa sk about it

I still don't know that I like drug commercials generally but if they are funny like the Vigra and Cialis ones or well done like that Advair one, I don't mind them that much

[ShaneWalter]

The most annoying to me are the birth control advertisement where it is a woman talking to her friends, they get on the topic of birth control, and one woman talks about a specific pill in an overly technical manner. "Babystopper is a once a week pill that has been proven in clinical studies to be over 98% effective at preventing pregnancy when used as directed. Some side effects may include increased blood pressure, increased chance of developing cancers, and suppressed immune response. You should not take Babystopper if you are pregnant, think you are pregnant, or if you have high blood pressure. Your doctor will instruct you on the correct usage of Babystopper. Babystopper does not prevent the transmission of STD's or of HIV." Usually after that long spiel, one of the other women will say something like "Woah Cindy you really know your stuff." "Well, I am a doctor!"

Doctor or not, who talks like that? Come on.

[Wezil]

Baby No and Preg Not are better than Babystopper.

[ColdWizard]

I like the one where you can treat your plaque psoriasis with the off chance of developing lymphoma.

[SpencerH]

While I'm generally against advertising for drugs I will admit that there might be a touch of good from these. Some people may have a condition that they're not aware that there is a drug for and might not think to talk to there doctor about it. Yes, a possible small benefit that I'm not sure outweighs the negatives.

I'm sure that the negatives of drug advertising far outweigh the benefits to the one person out there who doesnt know about the available drugs for erectile disfunction, male incontinece, and (horror of horrors) acid reflux disease.

[rah]

As I said, I doubt it outweighs the negatives but believe it or not, I didn't know there were drugs for male Incontinence.

[SpencerH]

Hmmm, mea culpa, not male incontinence. Enlarged prostate resulting in frequent urination and urgency (which, strangely enough, is a technical term BTW).

[Guynemer]

One saving grace about being a pediatrician--they haven't started advertising for common pediatric medications. Yet. (With the exception of a couple of immunizations.)

[Dr Strangelove]

One saving grace about being a pediatrician--they haven't started advertising for common pediatric medications. Yet. (With the exception of a couple of immunizations.)

Viagra Jr. is still in phase II testing.

[Berzerker]

bout 4 months ago I started using Chantix to quit smoking, it worked great. While its recommended as a 3+ month treatment, I used it 3-4 weeks. Now I'm seeing ads for Chantix and the list of potential problems takes more time than the ad does pushing the drug. But I guess these problems become more common with longer use, I had no problems with it. But the list of possible side effects is scary