How about we just don't allow advertisements for medications?
I'm expecting some slimeballs to try to skirt around the restriction by stating price per mg and obfuscating the price behind layers of numbers like mg per dosage and dose frequency.
Advertising for stuff that's not OTC to begin with is its own can of worms that shouldn't be for anyone other than people in the medical field to begin with.
Some? I wouldn't be surprised if all.
Someone pointed out years ago on reddit that they aren't so much as marketing the drug, but the life you could have with this drug! Don't you want this? Don't you want to be happy??
Like really, every single commercial starts with someone upset in greyscale or desaturated or whatever. Then suddenly, oh life is wonderful because of *x drug*, my affliction is cured!
Then they shove all the downsides into ⅛th of a second so you can't actually make any of it out.
Dumb question: why? Advertisements for, say, Vicks, or Musinex or whatever seem harmless to me. What am I missing?
I think for the most part people are fine with OTC drug commercials, it's the prescription drug ads that people have a problem with.
Clearly they mean prescription medications.
Why are prescription meds advertised in the first place? You can't walk into a GP and ask for a specific medication right? You'd get laughed out the practice.
Unless they're advertising to the doctors, which would make sense but is probably more terrible.
You can, actually. Doesn't mean you'll get it, but you can. It's very, very common.
Bad wording, should've included prescription in it.
However, some OTC stuff like tylenol or ibuprofen really need to be regulated because of how easily they can destroy your liver.
We don't have adverts for drugs in the UK, so when I was on holiday in NYC, I was shocked by how much shit they try to sell on the TV. Consumers should never be making decisions on whether or not they need medications.
Don't forget doctors get approached by these companies and are sort of lobbied with gifts and money to push them to patients, too.
they also use male voices to talk about the good things and female voices to talk about the bad so that you're more likely to pay attention to the male voices
And then the patient will find another doctor who will rubber-stamp them, which only incentives good doctors to do the same if they want to keep patients. There's no good scenario that comes from this.
What the fuck? Is that true?!
I doubt this regulation has any teeth, just like the drug price rebates, its a tiny bandaid for a massive gaping wound in our country.
They get paid and given gifts to do that. Those are shitty doctors.
I guess my point is that there are a lot more shitty doctors in the US than over here.
Anyone who tries to read the nutritional facts labels on food already knows how much fuckery is going on there. You can pick up a 10.75 ounce can of soup (soda cans are 12 ounces) and it'll tell you that there are 2.5 servings in this tiny can. This stuff needs to be written very carefully to ensure that companies follow the intent of the law rather than the letter of the law.
That's not really unique to drug ads, either!
Marlboro broke the world. Marketing hasn't been about products for a long time. It's all about lifestyle marketing. Image marketing. This is the life you could have if you just bought [PRODUCT]! [BRAND] will change your life!
Yeah now that you mention it, you're right. Car commercials pull the same shit.
And soda commercials and fast food commercials and beer commercials and game commercials and movie trailers and pretty much every single ad you see is some weaponized psychology. It's terrifying
I'm.... yeah. People ask me why I go out of my way to avoid advertising, it's so fucking manipulative. If a product is so great, I'll probably hear about it from someone I trust. Make something people want to buy, not something you keep telling us is super great. Why should I trust you? You made it? I made a shit this morning but I'm not telling you it's golden so you'll buy it.
Decades of shitty business practices and fucking over of workers has made me very skeptical about what I do with my money, how I obtain my media and entertainment, and given me an almost permanent negative outlook on companies in general. I should think nothing negative of a company until I have reason to, but there's just been so much abhorrent shit they've pulled that my baseline is "everyone is horrible by default until proven otherwise" because it all just seems like they're out to fuck the consumer, not pay taxes and buy a 5th mansion or some shit. It sucks but... I guess that's the age we're in. And they say vote with your wallet so... I try and do that. There are apps out there that let you scan a barcode and it'll tell you wether or not it aligns/conflicts with little groups of your choosing.
I use it to avoid Nestle.
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