what is wrong with the Pharma commercials? Well let me use Aricept as an example

[nadinbrzezinski]

They have this sweet older lady and daughter and their traditional family dinner of lasagna every Sunday... and mom forgot it, so that is when daughter knew.

Ok, here is the problem.

As we age ALL OF US become forgetful. Alzherimers has other signs and symptoms, none of which is mentioned in the add. What they mention is the every so common forgetting things that we all get as we age. By that standard of the add I'd better ask the doc... geee golly.

See that is the problem with them... and they do that with everything they run. They go for things that almost all will get and it is not even related to the condition in question. But I have to wonder, how many people go ask doc because gee golly they are forgetting things?

And this is the problem with them.

[DefenseLawyer]

1. "Tell your doctor if you have liver cancer"

Hey shouldn't the doctor be telling ME that?

[Cresent City Kid]

29. A common thread

You ever notice how many times the liver is mentioned in these ads? Our livers are trying to tell us something: AVOID POISON!

[ejpoeta]

2. and of course you have people going to their doctor and demanding this and that

when they may not need it at all. these commercials are designed to get in between you and your doctor. Sure, on some level, some public service announcement regarding signs and symptoms of things would be great... but that is not what this is. They are trying to undermine your confidence in your doctor or your own gut instincts... and playing into the fears we have about things.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

15. THERE IS NO ETHICS HERE

[COLGATE4]

39. My daughter is a M.D.

and she tells me that the newest craze with the Medical Establishment, particularly hospitals, is "Satisfy the Patient". So you get the dumbass patient who watches way too much daytime TV coming in demanding the latest drug for X, Y or Z because (s)he saw the ad on TV and has diagnosed/herself with it and demands that the Doc prescribe it for him/her. With the new 'Patient is always right' meme, the Docs just choose not to fight it any more, with the result that a whole bunch of unnecessary RX's are written. much to the benefit of big Pharma.

[sandnsea]

3. No, it's because she didn't even know she forgot

If mom had said, "oh my goodness is it Sunday?", all is good. It's when you can't run through your mind and put the days of the week together and remember that it's the weekly Sunday dinner, that you've got a problem. Sure, sometimes we go through a day and think it's the wrong day, but when confronted with an event that doesn't fit, we recognize it.

[uppityperson]

4. What, you have a problem with random self diagnoses and treatments?

what is it with you anyway?



:sarcasm: just in case

[HeresyLives]

5. Oooh Aricept.

Everything is 'Alzheimers' anymore. Dementia, simple forgetfullness or not realizing what day of the week it is...a common problem when you live alone, and one day is much like another. Aricept is the 'answer.'

I've even seen it prescribed for 'agitation'. Nearly wiped out the patient.

I disagree that we all are forgetful 'as we age'. Ten year olds can't find things, teens can't either, and people in their twenties run upstairs, and then wonder what they went to get. They remember when they get back downstairs. :)

We are all doing 1001 things, and short term memory items sometimes gets lost in the rush.

If you forget where you put your keys, that's perfectly normal.

If you forget what keys are for, that's a different matter.



Edited for spelling.

[madamesilverspurs]

17. Misplaced my keys, tore the place apart looking for them.

Found 'em in the fridge (kinda like that commercial), except that my keys were parked on top of what was left of a couple of cases of beer. Not that I needed to catch a clue or anything, but since the beer left I have managed to know where my keys (and front door) are pretty much all the time. Hmmm.

[Sal Minella]

22. Isn't it funny how that works. And about the same time my keys stopped

losing themselves, money stopped evaporating out of my billfold and I acquired a bunch of really enjoyable friends.

[dflprincess]

24. My friend recently found her keys in the fridge

it freaked her out because her mom had Alzheimer's.

I asked her if she remembered what she was doing when she put them there and she did recall that she had been in a hurry to get some of her cold groceries put away because she thought they'd been in the car too long. Then it didn't seem so awful that the keys had landed on the fridge shelf next to some new groceries.

I also reminded her that the big problem is not forgetting where the car keys are - it's forgetting what they're for.

[RC]

19. It is a cover up for Mad Cow.

Has beef growers cleaned up their act on that yet?

[Skip Intro]

6. Describe a problem. Convince the viewer he/she has that problem. Offer the solution. Sales 101.

It's the way we're sold everything from toothpaste to wars. And when you peel back all the layers of this onion, you find at the core the almighty dollar. Money. Profit. That's all it's about.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. It is a created need, but also an ethics problem

[Skip Intro]

10. Oh yeah, I agree. The pharma ads should be pulled - all of them. I'm just saying their methods

are just like any other ad campaign's. Identify or create the need - it's all about selling the product. I guess the balance with the pharma ads is that they have to describe the side effects as well, but I mean, come on - when you see a giant, psychedellic butterfly come into your room and lull you to sleep, are you really hearing the words, "may cause insanity, organ failure, and death?"

They're selling stuff the way stuff is sold in this country.

And it should be stopped, because we're talking about people's lives.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. And remember to mention the product name SEVEN times at least in the add

:-)

[NRaleighLiberal]

8. Everything is wrong with Pharma ads. N/T

Waste of money. False advertisement. Clogging the airwaves. Where to start???

[safeinOhio]

12. Snake Oil

[Celebration]

13. you forgot "a waste of money and resources"

We PAY for these ads, don't forget.

[me b zola]

9. I have long believed that pharma shouldn't be allowed to advertise Rx drugs

K&R

[Spangle]

14. Adds to the cost of the drug

Which is another reason I don't like the ads.

Meds cost to much. To much wasted money.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

23. Most countries do NOT allow advertising of prescription drugs

I once translated the vanity autobiography of the president of a Japanese pharmaceutical company. He came right out and said that America is the cash cow for drug companies, because it doesn't regulate drug prices and allows direct advertising to patients, which is illegal in most countries.

[dflprincess]

25. But if there were no ads - how would I know that there is a drug

to make my eyelashes longer & thicker? :sarcasm:

[Jane Austin]

16. There was a psychiatrist on Thom Hartmann's show the other day

who said Aricept is one of the drugs the British health care system won't pay for - among many others - because it is usless.

If it does any good at all, it's pretty negligible and doesn't increase length of life or quality of life.

[quiller4]

21. British Health system pays for Aricept as does Irish. I would trust

the opinion of a gerontologist about Aricept more than a psychiatrist.

Having observed how Aricept worked for both my late brother-in-law and my aunt, I'd hawk everythiing I own to pay for it for my spouse if my insurance refused.

[SeattleGirl]

26. I heard that interview.

That guy was fascinating to listen to.

[unc70]

30. Aricept can make dramatic improvements following head trama

Aricept makes significant improvements in the mental functions, speech, memory and thus the quality for several people I know well who have suffered traumatic brain injuries.

[madeline_con]

18. Why was she even expected to cook for a crowd every week?!

They all rallied and made lasagna, which is what they should have been doing all along. Go to Mom's and cook, or take her out. GEEZ

[csziggy]

27. That is what I think every time I see that ad

When I was little, we'd go to my grandmother's every Sunday for dinner with her and with my uncle's family that visited every Sunday. As she got older, the routine changed - she'd come to our house one week and to my uncle's the next. And my Mom would have the holiday dinners for the entire family most years.

It just got to be too much for Grandmother to prepare meals for a big family even though she never had Alzheimer's.

[Neecy]

37. that was exactly my first thought

"Hey, mom - it's Sunday, we're here with a flock of our kids for a free meal".

Yeah, expect an elderly parent to slave over a hot stove to feed 10 people every week. The woman probably conveniently "forgot" that it was her day to cook for a bunch of freeloaders (I'd try the same tactic) - and now she's going to be given a scrip to keep her cookin' for this lazy gang.

[riverwalker]

20. like the leg cramp thing

Lots of people have jumpy leg syndrome as they used to call it. Annoying, but certainly not serious. Big pharma comes up with something they can push to treat it (not mentioning the with 10000 side effects that are WORSE than the jumpy legs ever were) Then they give a fancy name to something that didn't even have a name before! RESTLESS LEGS SYDROME or RLS. Oh my Gawd, I have RLS! Gimme a drug, Doctor.

[Contrary1]

28. The dancing balloon bladders at the class reunion is the worst.

Hell, why not just have the sights and sounds of running water for 60 seconds? Then we'll all suspect we have bladder control problems, race to our doctors (with a few restroom stops on the way), and demand medicine to fix it. :eyes:

[pink-o]

31. Sociologists point out that my generation (boomers)

were the first ones to ever experience direct marketing as children. Television was universal by then, and all the ads said "Kids, tell your moms you want: Fruit Loops, Slinkys, Barbie dream house, et al.

I watch the Pharma ads, and I think the same thing! Old boomers, tell your doctors you want: Statins, Aracep, Boniva...like we're the same kids watching Captain Kangaroo!

[mikeytherat]

32. Best new drug name? Aciphex!

Ask your doctor if ass effects is right for you!

Of course, my wife keeps asking her GYN if cialas and viagra are right for her, and her doc is starting to get tired of explaining why they aren't.

mikey_the_rat

[Vinca]

33. That ad makes me laugh because by the time they get through

all the horrible side effects, anyone would be wishing they had Alzheimer's so you wouldn't know what's happening to you as a result of taking Aricept.

[Patsy Stone]

34. My problem with them

is that all of the drug names sound like superheroes.

"I'm CRESTOR! Master of the Universe!"

[alstephenson]

35. Advertising of prescription drugs should be illegal.

Marketing is a ridiculous waste of money, is misleading, and leads to self-diagnosis, as described in this thread.

[sentelle]

36. I understand that pharma should have the right to advertise

However, its recless to not limit it to trade publications.

The problem is that big pharma does not want to cure anything anymore, as treating the disease is more profitable than curing it.

[Neecy]

38. There are lots of examples

Have you noticed that pills that are marketed toward boomer men - Viagra et al, the one for enlarged prostates for your 'weak stream' - never actually use the word "men", which those in their 50's through 70's certainly are?

No, they're all "guys". There has to be some psychological reason they persist in using this word because they all do. It's like they don't want them to feel old by calling them men, even though the products they push mainly have to do with issues of aging.