Drug Advertisements: Designed to Reel You in with BS

Here you are finally relaxing after a rough day at work and probably being forced to watch a flurry of television commercials, all promising that their product is something you can’t live without. In the midst of all of this, you see an ad with a person who is depicted as having been returned to a happy life, all because they took this medication. The irony of this whole thing is that the pharmaceutical companies are duping you into believing you need medication for everything through their savvy drug advertisements.

We are a society of the overmedicated. According to John Abramson, MD and health-care policy lecturer at Harvard Medical School, the main reason for drug advertising is to simply get people to buy more expensive and newer drugs; not to provide health education to the public. He is the author of Overdosed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine, and knows that even physicians can be swayed by the marketing techniques.

What most people don’t know is that pharmaceutical companies have a time limit on the cash-cow drugs. They spend a lot of money in development and have a period of seven years to make that money back and the profit they need, before the meds go generic. This means they have to get as many people convinced to buy the drug, whether or not it has horrendous side effects or drug interactions. The goal is to sell-sell-sell. Once the drug goes generic, they will make less on it. However, the pharmaceutical companies have recently made a new twist to try to convince people to keep taking their drug. They are now offering some rather high ticket coupons, which can equate to the same cost overall as the generic.

So the next time you see one of those drug advertisements, remember there is an entire marketing team that sat in the room thinking about what it will take to get you convinced to buy.

Source: http://www.bottomlinepublications.com/content/article/health-a-healing/dont-be-fooled-by-the-bs-in-drug-ads

The information supplied in this article is not to be considered as medical advice and is for educational purposes only.