Drug Ads Are a Part of Today's Pop Culture

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http://www.mercola.com/2005/aug/20/drug_ads_are_a_part_of_todays_pop_culture.htm

 

 

 

 

 

Drug Ads Are a Part of Today's Pop Culture

 

It's impossible to turn on the television these days without seeing a

commercial for some kind of medication. More and more, these

commercials have been using colorful graphics, powerful iconic images,

and other sophisticated, time-tested psychological triggers to hawk

their products.

 

They are called direct-to-consumer advertisements, since they market

to potential patients rather than doctors or health care facilities,

and they are taking up a greater and greater portion of the

pharmaceutical industry's enormous advertising budget each year.

 

Vast Amounts of Money

 

In the 1990s, direct-to-consumer drug advertising increased at a

compounded annual rate of 30 percent. By 1995, drug companies had

tripled the amount of money they were spending on it. In 2000, drug

companies spent $2.5 billion on mass media advertisements, and this

number increased to $3 billion in 2003.

 

Why Advertise to Patients Rather Than Doctors?

 

It can be difficult to see at first why so much money is spent

advertising prescription drugs to consumers, when the drugs can only

be obtained through a doctor. It would seem to make more sense to

advertise to doctors only, since doctors are, to all appearances, the

ones in charge of which drugs are sold. But in fact,

direct-to-consumer advertising works very well indeed.

 

According to Mike Fillon, author of Ephedra: Fact or Fiction, " The

average number of prescriptions per person in the United States

increased from 7.3 in 1992 to 10.4 in 2000. Along with this increase

in demand, there has been a shift towards the use of more expensive

medications. It's more than a coincidence that many of the most

expensive medications happen to be those medications that are most

heavily advertised. " Between 1999 and 2000, the rate of increase in

prescriptions for the most heavily advertised drugs was six times as

fast as prescriptions for all other drugs.

 

How Does it Work?

 

While consumers may not actually write their own prescription, surveys

reveal that if a patient requests a specific drug from a doctor, they

will get a prescription for it more than 70 percent of the time.

 

So, say a consumer has been feeling somewhat sad and sees the Zoloft

commercial with the sad little animated ball. The viewer may identify

with the cartoon character and the symptoms described, and begin to

believe they are depressed. And if they go to a doctor and request

Zoloft, they are likely to get it -- even if they have never been

diagnosed with depression.

 

Meanwhile, the same drugs are also promoted aggressively to doctors,

who hear exaggerated versions of drugs' benefits, and often little

about their side effects. As a result, they are generally happy to

prescribe the drugs when asked for them.

 

 

 

NewsTarget July 31, 2005

 

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

 

This NewsTarget piece is filled with information about the insidious

ways the mega-pharmaceuticals have used marketing to create a " pop

culture " buzz around a drug -- a buzz that may prompt you to ask about

it, and get it, the next time you are at your doctor's office.

 

Earlier this spring, I posted an article about a clever musical

cartoon funded by Consumer Reports that mocked the toxic side effects

of popular drugs. If you haven't taken a look at it, I urge you to do so.

 

You'll find a lot of similarities in the Consumer Reports parody to

many " legitimate " drug ads you see popping up on the news and the

Internet. Take, for example, the smiling face of Digger (pictured

above), the popular " dermatophyte " used to hawk Lamisil, the foot

fungus drug. Or the cool jazz music and the side-by-side hot tubs with

attractive baby boomers sitting inside them holding hands and facing a

beautiful sunset -- all to sell an erectile dysfunction drug (Cialis)

that could blind you.

 

All of these commercial tricks -- be they:

 

* Cartoon characters

* Beautiful women

* Exaggerated promises

* Celebrity endorsements

 

-- are designed to convince you that you want and need things you have

no real use for. They play on your emotions rather than addressing

your medical needs. They are intending to convince you to buy the drug

with the " coolest " commercial, rather than the one (if any) most

suited to your problems.

 

And, all too often, it works. Consumer drug ads have created a world

of self-medicated hypochondriacs; even if you don't actively write

your own prescriptions, in many ways you might as well be doing so,

since you're likely to get whatever you ask for. It has even gotten so

bad that there is now a drug for " being in love. "

 

And you're doing it based on the barrage of pharmaceutical industry

commercials that first convince you that you have an illness, and then

that you need a particular, expensive drug to get better.

 

This is just one more reason I'm so committed to obliterating the

existing health care paradigm, which is addicted to quick-fix cures.

These " cures " are often either unnecessary in the first place, or

ignore the true causes behind your medical problems.

 

 

 

Related Articles:

 

Drug Companies Triple Money on Direct-to-Consumer Drug Ads

 

Prescription Drugs Devastating America's Pocketbooks by 50% More!

 

Prescription Drug Sales Increased By Nearly 20% Last Year in U.S.