Why are commercials for pharmaceuticals so vague? The only impression I get from them are “If you like smiling and want to be like these smiling people, ask your doctor about our colorful drug and if you don’t like smiling then we have the drug for you so you’ll like our other drug!” Why not just come out and say “It’ll make your dick big” or “It alleviates stomach pain” or something? Do they have something to hide or is it some broadcast standards and practices thing?
Because if they say “GIGANTEX makes your pipi bigger” they also have to say “the side effects of GIGANTEX include plague, leprosy and smelly feet”.
Any advertisement making specific claims of pharmacological activity would have to include all of the patient information necessary to make an informed choice. Since this can run to quite a bit of verbiage, and broadcast time is costly, most won’t do it. There are a few commercials that make more specific claims; they also include a list of side effects, advice to see your doctor, and a warning that the drug’s only available by prescription.
I always wondered about this too! They’ll have this wonderful commercial showing all of these happy people running around flying kites and picnicking and it’ll say “Ask your doctor about Damitol!” My mom and I always wonder out loud: “What if Damitol is a menstrual cramp medicine and a man goes and asks about it?”
There simply no point in advertising these things if they’re not going to tell you what they’re for. Unless of course they’re just trying to capitalize off of the publics collective hypochondria. Could that be it?
These drug commercials really annoy me. My favorite one describes a drug whose main attribute, according to the commercial, is that the pill is purple. “Call your doctor to find out if the purple pill is right for you” the ad suggests, but gives no clue what it is for. :smack:
The “Purple Pill” is actually a rather clever bit of marketing by the company that manufactures it. There have been at least two medications advertised under the “Purple Pill” label, both for the same ailment: Prilosec and Nexium. Nexium is the newer, more expensive of the two, and supposedly, satisfied users of the old “Purple Pill” may just fall for the ‘newer is better’ trap and ask their doctor about the new medication.