Last week I watched TV for the first time in ages and I was really bothered by 2 different ads for prescription drugs. One treated heart failure; the other, rheumatoid arthritis.
The heart-failure drug showed a sanitized version of what very ill people look like. The ad's theme was the song "Tomorrow" and the message was, if you have heart failure, tomorrow is not a given. These people were made up to look as if they could die at any moment. There was this tone of sweet regret about it all - yes, I am dying but what a satisfactory life I have led.
The arthritis drug was pitched with a muddled mini-movie about a young woman ecstatically enjoying everything life has to offer - running with puppies, playing the xylophone, whatever she was doing. By the end of the commercial I really liked this kooky, quirky chick, but I can't remember anything else - it's like a dream. Like the heart drug it didn't make claims; it simply set a tone.
Then the usual speed-reading of side effects and "ask your doctor" if Brand X is right for you. Is your doctor really going to say, "It never occurred to me, but now that you mention it, it's a splendid idea!" What would that say about your doctor?
I know advertising is manipulation, but these ads stood out for a reason I can't quite put my finger on. They're not pushing peanut butter, which most people would be qualified to judge. They're selling a mood, with impressionistic montages showing how happy life is if you take Brand X. Meanwhile, you're being urged to second-guess your doctor in order to obtain a recently synthesized substance that profoundly alters your biochemistry.
I think it would bother me less if the drug company made some kind of claim that could be evaluated. Instead people are essentially being told, "take Brand X because happy woman." Or worse - "Die happy, take Brand X." Am I being too hard on Big Pharma?
The heart-failure drug showed a sanitized version of what very ill people look like. The ad's theme was the song "Tomorrow" and the message was, if you have heart failure, tomorrow is not a given. These people were made up to look as if they could die at any moment. There was this tone of sweet regret about it all - yes, I am dying but what a satisfactory life I have led.
The arthritis drug was pitched with a muddled mini-movie about a young woman ecstatically enjoying everything life has to offer - running with puppies, playing the xylophone, whatever she was doing. By the end of the commercial I really liked this kooky, quirky chick, but I can't remember anything else - it's like a dream. Like the heart drug it didn't make claims; it simply set a tone.
Then the usual speed-reading of side effects and "ask your doctor" if Brand X is right for you. Is your doctor really going to say, "It never occurred to me, but now that you mention it, it's a splendid idea!" What would that say about your doctor?
I know advertising is manipulation, but these ads stood out for a reason I can't quite put my finger on. They're not pushing peanut butter, which most people would be qualified to judge. They're selling a mood, with impressionistic montages showing how happy life is if you take Brand X. Meanwhile, you're being urged to second-guess your doctor in order to obtain a recently synthesized substance that profoundly alters your biochemistry.
I think it would bother me less if the drug company made some kind of claim that could be evaluated. Instead people are essentially being told, "take Brand X because happy woman." Or worse - "Die happy, take Brand X." Am I being too hard on Big Pharma?
via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/2aLaxxA
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