TIDAL WAVE of drug commericals

a reply to: boncho

Hence my point.

We haven't had cable tv in over 20 years but when I'm exposed to it in lobbies or waiting rooms, I often find myself laughing out loud and wondering why any thinking person would take a substance that had those side effects It just baffles me. Maybe it's my background in the field---but the idea of mixing all those foreign chemicals in the body makes me stop and consider---and search out something natural to alleviate the problem.

But it's not just tv and print---our mailbox is filling up with junk mail on a daily basis now. It is from mail-order pharmacies, health insurance providers and Medicare supplemental insurance companies. The time is drawing nigh when providers will be chosen for next year so they fill up the mailbox with their litter. Between those and the political mailings, my compost pile is growing.

A 30 minute block of TV generally goes like this.

Prescription drug

Over the counter drug

Walgreens

Prescription drug

Cars

Beer

Prescription drug

And that's before your show even starts

Your show runs for 8 minutes

Prescription drug

Beer

Promo for some ethnic sitcom

Over the counter drug

Your show resumes for 8 minutes

Anti drug PSA

Over the counter drug

Prescription drug

Cars

Your show resumes and concludes in 6 minutes.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

When they have to mention the side effects, I think it makes more people afraid of taking the drug. Before these commercials, a doctor would prescribe a prescription, mention a couple of side effects and that was it. I bet a majority of people never even took the time out to read all the side effects. We just took the pill because our doctor told us to.

a reply to: WeRpeons

those side effects, especially death, but they don't call it that, they call it "a sudden fatal event"!!!!!! and cancer as a side effect, how can that ever be a trade off? I don't care what they are using the medicine to treat, cancer is not a trade off???

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

TIDAL WAVE of drug commericals

the media trained up the US population and that of half the world to beleive that some bloke with a few helpers who sleeps in a different house each night for security purposes, did 9001.

Perhaps this is anexperiment to see if they can train up a certain section of the population to make consumption of their drugs become 'the' thing of do by using an equally abured training technique.

I don't think this tidal wave of drug pedalling is recent, it's been there for a long time and yes what a joke with the disclaimers at the end with " may cause this or may cause that". CNN appears to have the most with insurance and pharmaceuticals and the legal ones about mesothelioma.

I mostly watch shows I record so I skip through the ads. Ads are ads and they're never really genuine.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

The reason you don't see it anywhere else is because the US is one of very few (if not the only, I don't quite remember now) countries that allow direct marketing of prescription drugs. Outside the US, companies can't advertise prescription meds directly to consumers, only over-the-counter products. Unfortunately, in Canada at least, that only applies to broadcasters in the country, not import channels from the US. So it'd be illegal for, say, CBC or CTV to show drug ads, but I can change the channel to CNN and be bombarded with them.

The thing is, most of your medication probably has a list of side effects just as long...you just never heard them read to you.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I enjoy commercials in general. Its a view into how people, in general, are perceived. For example, with drug commercials....its interesting the names they choose for drugs. Some of them, like Premarin, are based on something (PREgnant MAre urINe). But the newer drugs? Just gibberish meant to sound like a powerful drug. Having the letter "X" in it is like a bonus. Soon they'll be using Nahua to get new words.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

Like FLOMAX!

Can't pee? Get some FLOMAX! Maximize your flow!

a reply to: MystikMushroom

but then you get names that are obviously made to market to a target group. Yaz is a great example. Celebrex, too.

So many nonsense names. Yervoy, Viibryd, Zytiga, Xgeva.

And Revatio is simply Viagra repackaged as a heart drug. It also has uses in digestion (for people with issues with the cardiac sphincter in the stomach) and can prolong cut flowers vibrant life.

ETA: "side effect" is a misnomer. Its an effect of a drug. Its just not the effect they are trying to isolate as "treatment", so is called a "side effect". In my viagra example....a "side effect" of Revatio is priapism. And, if taking Viagra with cardiac nitrates, heart issues are a "side effect". Despite them being the targeted treatment in their individual diseases.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

Like Wellbutrin? It'll make you well again!

I have no idea where "zoloft" came from?

a reply to: MystikMushroom

Zoloft likely plays on the "loft" aspect of the word. Who knows why the "Zo" was added as a prefix.

I've seen doctors prescribe Wellbutrin for smoking cessation, but couched it in a clinical diagnosis of depression.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

This should make you cringe then.

So Inherently Dangerous that Only Two Countries in the World Have Legalized This and the U.S. Is One of Them

What I'm talking about is direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising, that barrage of ads you see on TV and in magazines and newspapers, or on the radio and Internet. They're ads telling you to run right out and ask your doctor if this or that pill would be right for you.

Some drug companies have even taken to advertising highly specialized medical devices, like heart stents.

It's a marketing bonanza that's turned America into a medicated mass of people who've been brain-washed into thinking that taking pills will make everything better―even for ailments you might not have. But it's a brilliant move for Big Pharma, who has now turned the consumer into their very own sales rep, and a persuasive one at that. Not only is there a correlation between the amount of money drug companies spend on DTC advertising and the brand of drug patients request from their physicians, but the data shows DTC advertising rapidly converts people into patients.

a reply to: Krazysh0t
Exactly! There is a certain segment of the population that seem to need attention and a doctor's office is a good place to get individual attention. Right off the top of my head I could name at least five people who, upon hearing or reading of some new drug will run to the doc's office and beg for it. Now all five of these people are already on a dozen or so meds but they never take into consideration that it MIGHT be the drugs that are making them feel bad. Likewise there is a segment of the medical profession that will write pretty much any script a patient requests. In return, the doc gets to bill the insurance office for a $100 office visit every three months as he "keeps check" on the patient. When the meds don't make any difference, he simply adds more rather than discontinuing the earlier scripts.
Just yesterday a close relative of mine told me she is taking over 70 pills a day---all prescriptions---and admitted that about half of them are to counter-act the side effects of the other half! No wonder she can barely get out of bed. But it's all good in her mind because her insurance pays for the drugs and her twice-weekly doctor's visits.
Apparently there is a segment of the population that believes anything a doctor or nurse or someone playing a doctor on tv says---even when their own body is telling them something completely different. It's worse than sad, it's criminal in my mind.

a reply to: diggindirt

There's something wrong when a nation let's sales people be your doctor.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
Anyone else notice the tidal wave of drug commercials on TV these days?

Seems like every other commercial on network television is a drug commercial. That, or an insurance company commercial.

Interesting metric isn't it? Drugs, or insurance.

This is just crazy!

Then you have a 60 second drug commercial, and the last 30 seconds of the commercial are all about the side effects...

'Side effects of (xxxx drug) may include...growing a second head, violent thoughts which might make you eat your children, the desire to polish your trailer hitch with the placenta of a rabbid goat, diarreah, headache, nausea, homicidal tendencies, screaming in the middle of the night, blurting out streams of obscenities at family gatherings, prank phone calls, uncontrollable pharting, theft, delusional behavior including hollering at babies, cancelling your cable, buying obscure things on the internet, repeatedly smashing your thumb with a hammer and liver cancer. There may also be other side effects. If you experience these or other symptoms, contact your medical professional (or the medical examiner) immediately. (xxx) drug may not be for you.'

WTH???

pharma companies are forced to list all these potential side effects, in an effort to educate potential customers, since people will never read the entire PI of a drug. So in my opinion thats a good thing.

the first time i was in the US it really shocked me. An older woman talking about getting Viagra prescribed for your hubby... and then the long, long list of potential safety concerns...

This my absolute pet peeve.

I wonder how many people start feeling like crap and worrying about every little ache and pain because these damn commercials suggest it?

We don't watch a lot of TV but we have started just DVRing what we do watch in order to fast forward through the endless pharma, mesothelioma, insurance and lawyer commercials. Unfortunately it's unavoidable on news channels.

a reply to: diggindirt
I know my body better than any doctor and will not trust any doctor who tries to tell me otherwise.

I have seen who drug companies push their products and it is not right.

Health care should never be for profit, however too many ignorant Americans have been fooled into believing that socialized healthcare is evil and the insurance industry makes too much money and pretty much owns our lawmakers.

I just don't see any changes coming to our health care anytime soon...maybe if Bernie is elected however I do not think the establishment will allow it.