All your postings are worth reading, and this one especially so. George Lakoff writes convincingly of how Republicans have "framed" so many issues by channeling the discussion with emotional language. I suspect you are exactly right about drug commercials: companies selling these products have framed our view of sickness and medicine by conditioning our thinking so that we see ourselves principally in terms of symptoms. Constant repetition reinforces the message, making the world sicker than hell.

Some messages may have unintended consequences. I quit smoking ten years ago after 50 years of excessive puffing. I often get a tremendous desire to light up when viewing TV ads supposedly designed to convince people to quit.

This is an ancient marketing ploy: create the need, and fill it with what you're selling. (Think deodorant, mouthwash, teeth whiteners. The list of unnecessary consumables we buy is endless.)

The drug ads are a major reason for me to just not watch TV. I know I'm suggestible. The depression-drug ads are the worst IMO, because they are such very good ads. I suppose the ED ads are also good, although they don't resonate all that much with me, being female. But who wouldn't want to be able to enjoy sex again?

I think the reason we are subjected to drug company ads is that sometime in the late 80s or early 90s, the courts decided that that this was a "free speech" right of drug companies. Until then, direct to consumer drug ads were illegal. I just did a quick check -- looks like one of the deals the Administration made with the pharmaceutical industry was NOT to consider regulating this kind of advertising in the health care reform process.

In fact there were many categories of speech that were once illegal that we now see all the time. Most of us probably remember when lawyers were prevented by their own professional associations from advertising. It was called "ambulance chasing." No longer -- now thay have billboards.

It will be interesting to see how much more corporate political advertising we see now that the Supremes have decided that Exxon Mobil and AT&T are people for the purposes of election propaganda.

I don't think you're being half-baked at all. Marketing has to be a significant part of Big Pharma's expenses, and you know who pays for that in the end. On a TV ad for an anti-depressant, the sales impact of the soft music, muted colors, sympathetic voices, and empathetic actors depicting sensitive people on their way to recovery easily outweighs any informational value the spot might have.

Before I got rid of my television three years ago, I often thought that a visitor from another planet would think that all Americans were ill, drove fast cars, and only ate at McDonald's. Ridiculous.

I'm glad I gave up TV (except for coverage of major news events once or twice a month). I already know my tendencies toward hypochondria; I glom onto and worry about every new syndrome I hear of...and what a lot of THOSE there are, too. I think a tendency to worry about our bodies increases with age (it dawns on us that we may someday spot the symptom that signals our fate), so we're sitting ducks for advertisers.

We have computers and alternatives now. I don't see any reason to subjugate ourselves to the massive propaganda.

I live north enough to get what I call "Canable" and their advertising is so silly that you really couldn't take it seriously. For example: "My wife and I were compulsive gardeners...everyday garden, garden, garden...We couldn't stop! We are okay now we have discovered Viagra and now we only garden perhaps once a week". All this is stated completely straight faced. [don't take me word for word on that ad - It is just to give you an idea of what they are like!]

I'm always shocked when I see American TV - it is REALLY obtrusive what people suck up everyday as an OK message from advertisers and newscasters. Leave off it for a week or so and turn it on again and you'll see - better yet, do yourself a favor and leave network broadcasting off for good!

Thanks for tossing this subject out for discussion, Ronni.

The medium is the massage, as MacLuhan put it.
I think television has gotten so bad that it is making us stupid. And we can't afford to be spaced out right now with what's coming down.

My Mom, unfortunately a confirmed hypochondriac, worked at a drugstore for many years. She was the one in charge of ordering the drugs! Talk about the fox guarding the hen house ... she regularly acquired every symptom that matched every new drug that was presented to her by every drug salesman. Sighhh My poor, long-suffering father would just look at me and we would just shrug our shoulders and wait it out.
I have also become a minimalist regarding drugs and medical treatment ... probably due to this early influence, for which I am, sadly, eternally grateful. And, probably as a result, I am the healthiest and happiest in my group of friends and acquaintences.

I wonder if this has something to do with our being less healthy than the Europeans. It is reported that we spend far more than they do on health care. Could this be one of the reasons?

The ads are horrible, should be banned again. However, I also hate the constant "scientific" studies that contradict one another. And it makes me wonder if we eliminated the ad/studies whether affordable health care would be available. Too much "consumerism" and "commercialism" in medical care industry has literally run it into the ground financially.

My comment to your post -- "my sentiments exactly!" TV is a disease in my opinion. -- barbara

Ronni, you're absolutely on target. Free speech be ****ed in the case of Rx drug advertising. Free speech doesn't apply to this at all in my view. We're talking about COMMERCIALS. Somehow, I'm sure that's not what the founding fathers intended to protect.

Personally, I think one of the darkest days in the history of our economic system is the day drug ads were inflicted on a susceptible public via their TV screens. I've learned to tune them out, and lately I'm simply turning off the TV. If I have a health problem, I'll make a doctor's appointment and I won't be asking him to prescribe a drug promoted on TV!

I support the less-is-more approach to medical care. Think how much further our healthcare dollars could go if high-priced, over-advertised drugs, medically UNnecessary tests and high-tech procedures could be eliminated or greatly reduced.

Wow, we might even be able to afford healthcare for working- and middle-class citizens at a price they could afford. What a concept!