The Pros And Cons Of Prescription Drug Advertising

Ads for pharmaceutical drugs are everywhere. They are in magazines, on television and radio, on billboards, and on the little bags that you get from the pharmacist. These days it is difficult to get away from all the drug advertising. All these ads are for products that require a doctor's prescription. The goal of advertising is to increase profits. By advertising so heavily for drugs that the majority of the population does not need, pharmaceutical companies attempt to create as large a consumer base as they can. In advertising directly to the consumer, the drug companies accomplish two objectives. First, they get information directly to the consumer. Second, they promote the product and

If you have ever watched TV in America you are aware of “direct-to consumer" (DTC) advertising for prescription drugs. These are ads provided by drug companies in the intent to educate the general public on the benefits of their product. They often feature celebrities or catchy cartoons with very healthy satisfied patients. This type of advertising of prescription drugs is unique to the United States. It was one of only two countries that allows DTC advertising. New Zealand is the only other developed nation that does. If the intent is to educate the prospective consumers about their product then why do only two countries utilize the technique (“For Consumers”)?

Commercialized on TV as the only solution to our numerous problems, Big Pharma preys on people who struggle through life. Although seemingly meant to heal, pharmaceutical drugs have destroyed countless American lives instead because gullible patients rush to their doctor demanding prescriptions. Want to lose weight? Give me a pill. Want more intense sexual encounters? I need a pill. Want to grow longer, shinier hair? Hey, I’ll just pop a pill. Although some medical conditions do require medication, not every case of discomfort should be treated with highly addictive prescription meds nor should those drugs be trafficked via commercials that target a hypochondriacal nation of couch potatoes too lazy to put forth the time and effort to prevent disease. Instead, far too many Americans simply find a quick fix at their local pharmacy. These prescriptions lead to addiction and in the end death. Therefore, if I could take away any one invention from mankind it would be the crass commercialization of pharmaceuticals.

Annually, the US spends $300 billion dollars on pharmaceutical drugs. This is due to the over-diagnosing of certain conditions. Everyday, Americans are exposed to an enormous amount of advertisements for medications of all kinds. For example, 1 in 10 Americans are taking

Bill Maher once mocked the aggressive nature of the drug advertisements that direct you to tell your doctor that their drug is right for you. “Tell your doctor? Shouldn’t your doctor tell you what drugs you need. When you tell your doctor isn’t he just a dealer at that point,” said Bill Maher. The American public generally trusts their government to protect them from the hidden dangers prescription and over-the-counter drugs. However, that trust isn’t fully warranted as the FDA has been featured in the GAO report of “high risk” agencies which need drastic reforms. After all, the FDA is in charge of regulating the shameless drug advertisements that inundate the airwaves.

We in America tend to take medications for almost any problem we have, from headaches to gastrointestinal pain, to more serious chronic disorders such as depression and attention deficit disorder. While many of the uses of such medications may be necessary and legitimate, many are not, and due to this fact, many people become dependent on medications, mentally, and or physically. This problem is not simply the fault of the individual; in fact, the blame can also be placed upon the medical community, and the pharmaceutical companies who produce the drugs. How often can one turn on the television to see advertisements for Claritin, Aspirin, Pepto-Bismol, or even Zoloft or Ritalin? The pharmaceutical industry is motivated by monetary

The safest and often most effective courses of action are normally exercise, nutrition, and work-life balance, but doctors who do not prescribe lifestyle changes instead of drugs would probably soon find themselves out of business. Informed patients who have done research on websites such as WebMD and Rxlist.com believe that they know what drug will best treat their symptoms and seek out doctors who will prescribe what they want. Financial considerations should not be the driving force of medical decision-making. Though tempting, prescription drugs are often not the best course of action to improve health and treat symptoms. Doctors

Prescription drugs, on the other hand, are medicines that have been approved by the Food and Drug

A physician has a large responsibility in the management of medications and is partially at fault for the abuse of these medications. They have to find a medication that helps the patient's pain and well being. Some medications can be more addictive than others. Physicians are at fault for over prescribing and it is a good idea to have routine checkups. If there are signs of addiction, the Physician should stop prescribing that medication. Sometimes Physicians are stuck in trying to satisfy the desires of a patient and the doctors over prescribe painkillers. Some physicians do not fully explain the dangers and effects that some painkillers can have and they are at fault for assuming that the patient understands and will follow the

Imagine going into your doctor’s office for an easily treatable illness, and coming out with a slip for an orange bottle full of pills. Now imagine taking them every single day for the next several years because your body has become reliant on these pills to perform properly. Prescription medications have the capacity to do various things to the body. Many of these drugs have been scientifically proven to have successful results by helping patients cure certain diseases or conditions. However, many of them have been known to have a bad effect or reverse reaction to the body that an individual is not aware of. A plethora of drugs are helping so many people but at the same time putting them into danger if they are over or misprescribed. Is the

There are many direct to consumer advertising for prescription drugs. On television, magazines, radio etc, you see the most recent advertisements for prescription drugs. After some people see the advertisements they soon rush over to their doctor and their illness and life would be perfectly pain and stress free. Making the public conscious of options for treatment is not a bad thing. But these false advertisements are misleading consumers onto unnecessary treatment.

Advertising has grown within society over the past years. Everything and mostly everyone who tries to catch the public attention uses advertising as a source of propaganda. Business uses them to sell product and persuade people that their products are beneficial. Depending on how good the business sells they out to people determine what they need it or not. One out of many products being advertised in the present day are prescription drugs. Many people like the idea of companies advertising medicine. Advertisement of prescription drugs should be allowed because it informs and educate people of their own health encouraging people to be more open with their doctors and help find and reduce underdiagnosed illnesses that the client and doctor

Considering this, a limitation to nudging should be put on the medical profession and the form of nudging that promotes products that can harm them should also not be able to be utilized. Doctors should not be able to use the technique of nudging. They should not be able to utilize this technique based on the primary goal of their profession, which is to do what is in the best interest of the patient. For instance, if the doctor is nudge marketing a brand medicine to the patient for their own personal financial gain, they are not doing what is in the best interest of the patient. The patient could possibly get the same medicine, a generic brand, for a lower price. Forms of nudging that are not professionally responsible are ones that only have

Prescription drug advertisements have a negative impact on Americans by causing them to become hypochondriacs in a certain way. A hypochondriac is someone who believes and becomes obsessed with the idea that they have a serious condition that was and is undiagnosed. This problem continues to have a negative affect because it can lead to unnecessarily prescribing. Patients are going into their doctors and they are requesting to be put on these drugs because of the great affects that they have heard that they do for them. In the article, Direct-to-Consumer Pharmaceutical Advertising, the author states that in a study done over this and the results were that, when these request were made at about 40 percent of doctor visits and during this time more

What facts would you want to know before making a judgement on the ethical appropriateness of direct consumer advertising of drugs?