Astha Dave, Special to The Denisonian–
My generation doesn’t watch TV as much, but we surely use streaming platforms.
One day, when I was watching on Hulu, I saw an ad for a medicine that would treat depression. I turned around to my friend in disbelief, who was confused as to why I was looking at them.
The cultural shock shook me since they have been fed this since 1997. This experience is unique to the US and New Zealand. The wave of capitalism hit me, after seeing ads for lung cancer and HIV medicine alongside Apple’s latest AirPods, or the new Honda.
It got me thinking that when I think of a car or earphones, it is a luxury, it enhances the quality of my life. But medicines? They are a necessity to cope with the deteriorating quality of my health. An average person is not going to a pharmacy store because the company looks cool, and they want to try the new product. It is rather out of desperation, where the end goal is to get better.
Europe was perplexed while watching a Pfizer ad during the Superbowl. I don’t want to see Newton wink in a pharmaceutical advertisement, because people shouldn’t be lured to buy medications based on a fun commercial. It is a profit-induced recommendation that they are feeding the public, which makes the authenticity and effectiveness of medicine less relevant.
The internet has made it easier for us to recognize health symptoms and helped us self-diagnose. The conformity we might get because of these ads would probably lead to more harm considering the risks that come with treating an illness without a health expert’s consultation. It is worse than self-diagnosing using Google.
I hate the psychology behind selling products and services in the first place, that manipulates us into buying a product. Advertisements are peak capitalism, and then they are trying to advise the population about how you should ask your doctor about this medicine. What happened to diagnosing an illness and then getting treated by a doctor?
Since the end goal for these pharmaceutical companies is to have more cash in their pockets, it is making people spend more money on the latest and most expensive medications.
The American Medical Association has stated its skepticism regarding direct-to-consumer advertising and also called for a ban on drug advertisements in 2015. However, the Food and Drug Administration allows the ads as long as they give an accurate account of a medicine’s true benefits and risks, including a list of potential side effects. These advertisements have not been following the guidelines, and probably help 1% of the population in spreading awareness of their illness. Why else would the rest of the countries in the world ban pharmaceutical ads?
The exposure to these ads led to an increase in medication-related demand, but it won’t stop the unhealthy behavior that patients have. The goal should be to deal with health problems by adopting healthy lifestyles and avoiding bad habits. I’m not sure if the awareness factor alone is strong enough to outweigh the cons and have medicine ads pop up on our TVs when we are just trying to watch a movie with our family.
Astha Dave ‘25 is a journalism and psychology double major from Idar, India.