at a recent visit to my voodoo doctor, i borrowed their reader’s digest. (i asked permission.) it was an old issue with an article on will smith i wanted to finish. i just love will. he’s the kind of fella i’d totally be friends with in real life if he would just drop that restraining order.
i used to have a subscription to readers digest. back when i had that subscription, i did not notice that every other page was an ad for drug companies. this issue (december 2006) is loaded with drug company ads. not just one page ads, but like 2-4 page ads. the extra pages include the legal mumbo jumbo. i’m thinking they have this so they don’t get sued.
i’m not the smartest turkey in the flock, but the drug companies prolly paid some hefty cash for that space. i guess they have a large audience of retired folks. perhaps, the drug ads are geared towards that audience.
i counted them. thirteen ads for drugs: spivava, coricidin, vytorin, crestor, mucinex, ambien cr, merck, roxarem, advair, advandia, plavix, nyquil, humira.
what strikes me as odd is that if a person gets sick or has a medical problem, they go to a doctor and the doctor prescribes whatever for the ailment. why must the drug companies sell themselves through magazines and tv commercials? since when does the general public decide what prescription is best for them?
i have a tendency to be cocky and question my health care professionals. not in a snarky or mean way, but in a “i’m taking charge of my health-care” kind of way.
i fear these medicine ads are poisoning our minds. is their only gain monetary? these drug companies are humongous money hoarders that hire former college cheerleaders and football jocks to peddle their newest shit.
to me, that just seems wrong.
*note: i take two prescription drugs, birth control and effexor (for my mental issues). I realize that some of these drugs are helpful to people. and i would mainline benadryl (for allergies) if i could get away with it. furthermore, i have known some very nice drug reps. more than anything, i’d just like to see some balance with this bullshit.
Posted by leah 
