# Drug Commercials **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 19, 2004, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-commercials/230004 "2004-02-19T14:38:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chickendoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@chickendoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chickendoc)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-commercials/230004/1 "2004-02-19T14:38:04Z")
Why do I see all of these drug commercials that claim to improve my quality of life and so on and so forth, but they don’t speak any of what the drug treats? It doesn’t make much sense not to tell the audience what the drug is for. I’m not gonna ask my doctor for a prescription of something that may be used to treat a disease that I don’t have. ---
**Author:** ![RumMunkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@RumMunkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RumMunkey)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-commercials/230004/2 "2004-02-19T14:44:57Z")
My wife works in medical advertising. She tells me it’s a weird FDA law, that certian ads can only advertise the symptoms. She says “you can do either a specific drug by name, but not the symptons, or symptoms but not a specific drup” [sic] 😃 (She’s a lot smarter than her typing makes her sound) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-commercials/230004/3 "2004-02-19T14:54:33Z")
If an advertisement claims benefits for a prescription drug, it also has to mention the risks. Even a “safe” non-prescription drug like aspirin has a long list of potential side effects – for some drugs like birth control pills, the warnings can be thousands of words long. In those cases, it’s a lot easier to sell the healthy lifestyle than the specific health benefits. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-commercials/230004/4 "2004-02-19T14:56:58Z")
The laws are complex in this area. Producers of ‘natural’ products can advertise, but they are not allowed to claim that they cure any specific diseases. However , IIRC, they are not required to list side effects. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-commercials/230004/5 "2004-02-19T15:44:28Z")
What scares me about the commericals are the 5 minute side effect explanations , Here ya supposed to have somehting to help your health and you get 40 ways to die … and the more minor the medicine the bigger health risk involved it seems …