Julius, may I speak frankly?
Maybe it’s because I’m now on the wiser side of sixty, but I’m beginning to see something deeply sinister in all these television ads for prescription medicines. At first, perhaps like you, I was simply stunned by the overt “shell game” production techniques being employed.
Pardon me?
Oh, sure. Let me explain. What is the object in the shell game? Right, the conman wants to get the rube to look where the pea isn’t. You want them to focus somewhere other than where the trick is actually going down. Take the Celebrex commercial for example – it is a masterful bit of shell game production. You know the one with the awesome graphics? White letters on a blue background? You can take a look at it over on YouTube – here’s the URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GvYI4VdVEI
Anyhow, we all know by now that the commercial has to include all the medical disclaimers and cautions. And much of the controversy about this ad focuses on its questionable assertion that Celebrex is no more harmful than other NSAIDs – a broad class of pain relievers. That’s an important issue, because if we listen to the actual words being spoken beneath the music and the graphics in the ad, we learn that Celebrex, and all NSAIDs “can increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes that may lead to death.” So Celebrex seems to be saying, “Yeah, we may kill you – but so will those other guys!” That’s the controversy that folks have been raising with Dr. Hamburg over at the FDA.
But I don’t want to talk to her, Julius, I want to talk to you. I think this goes way beyond just Celebrex – it is a whole class of false and deceptive advertising that is not only harmful, but it is also costing us an arm and a leg! How? Ah, yes. More, brandy?
Let me try to clarify. Have you ever loaded software onto your computer, or downloaded a new version of Firefox or iTunes? Sure, right, we all have. Now, before you can actually run the software, what do you have to do? Restart? Maybe, it depends. But what do we always have to do? Bingo! Click on the button that says “I agree.” We click on the button that says we “have read and agree to” the five or ten pages of legalese that we have not read and have no idea if we agree with or not, because if you haven’t gone to law school it is incomprehensible. But we agree because, cognitively, those bits of text on the screen have disappeared, vanished, zip – gone! Not only do we not read them - we don't even see them.
The same is true with the medical warnings and disclaimers that accompany television advertisements for prescription drugs. Any school kid can tell you that a picture is worth a thousand words. What is less widely realized is the fact that cool animations and a soothing soundtrack in a TV ad can cause any spoken words to vanish. So we don’t hear the warnings anymore, we just see the pictures and hear the music. Click. Accept. And that is what used to bother me. Not so much anymore. Well, that’s not really true, it still bothers me – but two other things bother me even more.
First is the fact that the ads are very effective – maybe that floating green Luna moth will help me sleep, maybe that Alli stuff will help me shed a few pounds, maybe Lipitor will let me attend my granddaughter’s wedding. Those very effective shell game ads nudge us down the road to belief. And what am I supposed to do before I take the drug? Oh, that’s right – I’m supposed to talk to my doctor – it’s a prescription drug, I need a prescription. I’ll talk to my doc about that.
Fast forward to the doctor’s office. Their “CEA [cost efficiency analyst]” or the “CCA – [cost containment algorithm]” has determined that they should spend about 7 minutes with each patient. The doc knows it is absurd, but s/he will try to do their best. They walk in the door. “Hi. There are issues on your tests . . . .”
“Dr. Jones, I think I need Celebrex/Lipitor/Alli/Lumina/Cialis/Yadda/Yadda. Can we talk about it?”
Obviously, meaningful conversations between patients and their health care providers are vital for quality healthcare. But these ads co-opt the conversation. They prompt us to waste our valuable time with our doctor by both inclining us to imagine aliments we probably don’t have and to harangue the doc for prescriptions for “shell game” drugs that enrich big pharma and may actually harm us. We need to be talking about our specific medical concerns - not spouting the shell game ad agenda. I mean, Julius, if that’s not false and deceptive what is? Multimedia mega campaigns over-hyping the benefits and masking the risks of unnecessary drugs? Come on Julius, we’re struggling to come to grips with the healthcare crisis - legitimate concerns about the escalating costs of care and coverage. And these greedy ad men and women are pushing pills most folks don’t need.
I wish that were all. But it’s not. I am equally disturbed about the Menactra ads for their vaccine. You’ve probably seen it – but if not you can see it here:
http://www.menactra.com/what_is_menactra_menactra_ads.html
These folks should be ashamed of themselves. We live in a scary world, and raising kids has always been tough. These ads essentially say to parents:
"Be afraid. Be very afraid. If you don’t get our vaccine for your children they may die! Tomorrow! No symptoms, no warning, just a dead kid – and it will be your fault."So you see, Julius, these folks have no shame. They don’t care about protecting our health. They just want to make money. There’s certainly nothing wrong with making a fair profit for a worthwhile product. That needs to happen for the economy to recover, for crying out loud. But when ads for prescription drugs are intentionally deceptive, when they create a huge drag on healthcare efficiencies, and when they seek to terrify young parents . . . . Well, somebody needs to get these guys. How about you Julius? You can do it! Go get ‘em guy!
Gosh, my aggravation about this issue has lasted for longer than 4 hours. Who am I supposed to call? My doctor, right, I better call my doctor . . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment