Big Pharma Ads Are Sick
In 2005, I came back to America after living in England. Along with having to experience reverse culture shock and a lot of jokes about my accent, I also couldn’t understand the television, magazine and newspaper advertisments. They semed to be not for over the counter medicines — but for prescription medicines. When I asked Mom about them, she sighed and confirmed my suspiscions. At the time, my Mom worked for the legal department of a Big Pharma company (which I would rather not name).
It was an unwritten no-no to blatantly advertise prescription drugs — until the about 1999 or 2000. At the time, it was thought that doctors — who spent at least twelve years in college and medical school, after all — were the only decision makers when it came to what prescription medicine their patients should be taking.
Now, apparently, people without a lick of medical training or common sense can tell a drug is for them merely by watching TV. The ads themselves are not too informative.
Why The Change?
Big Pharma made millions, but now they make billions. This is partially due to the insanely expensive prices on their medications. In order to justifyu their costs, Big Pharma looked into how it could raise it’s advertising budget. Usually, doctors were courted by Big Pharma with lavish prizes,gourmet food and other perks, but this practice was getting cracked down on. So, Big Pharma turned to advertising in the most expensive media possible — television, huge glossy magazines and full-page newspaper ads.
Even Congress Says “Enough, Already!”
Congress, about as fast as a tortoise on Valium, is even looking into the necessity and accuracy of Big Pharma ads. Right now, they are hoping to enforce stricter rules to limit prescription drug claims, but hopefully (I hope, anyway) they will just outlaw the price-gouging practice whatsoever.
The moral of the story: Ignore all prescription ads that you see and eventually they will just go away. And don’t think you know more about prescription drugs than your doctor — unless you ARE a doctor.
November 29th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
[...] Stop all television advertising. People don’t pay attention to commericals anyway. By lowering drug avertising, you lower your overhead and can pass the savings on to your cutomers. Besides, those commericals are incredibly annoying. By stopping them, you will instill large amounts of gratitude within your target audience. [...]