What prescription drug commercial do you find the most tasteless and embarrassing?

her day, every time.

but there is a new one out with a actress, er "doctor", stating that she takes this eye medicine twice a day.

She's a young and beautiful doctor. It looks so GOOD. Who wouldn't want THAT medication?

The eyelash grower.

I have to say that only in America would they actually advertise a drug or treatment to grow friggin eyelashes. The things ad agencies can come up with truly boggles the mind.

And the "miracle drug" aspect of the commercial, and then you find out it's for growing eyelashes?!

when so many ads are for drugs to treat depression, digestive disorders and sexual dysfunction.

that some men would get embarrassed about how many of these ads are being televised. He's pretty much sick of all of them.

The ones that make me the angriest are for Gardisil and the one that tells women they don't HAVE to have a period every month!
Why not every three months! :wtf:

n/t

Yeah, that's pretty bad. Not exactly subtle.

any more.

Man Behind "Smiling Bob" Sentenced to Prison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMF4S4W4sdQ&feature=fvw

I find the ad for Humira, the anti Rheumatoid Arthritis agent, to be one of the dumbest. In the ad, the woman says, "I didn't know rheumatoid arthritis could attack my joints'. Come on: one of the things that's distinctive about RA is the characteristic damage to the affected joints.

advertised period.

the lobbyists have our government bought off on that one too. Just how can you justify advertising prescription drugs to the public, we can't just buy them without a prescription? I would almost bet the drug companies spend more on advertising and political bribes than they do researching drugs.

Can anyone confirm or correct this?


The first commercial I recall for a prescription drug featured countless "little purple pills" raining down from the sky. At the time I said "what's up with the prescription drug commercials?"

Little did I realize that they'd quickly come to dominate the airwaves...

Legal reform of the patent medicine and drug industry continued. In 1927, a separate law enforcement agency, the Food and Drug Administration, was formed. Since 1962 the FDA has also regulated advertising for prescription drugs; advertising for over-the-counter drugs is overseen by the Federal Trade Commission.

Advertising directed at consumers helps spur drug sales, as it is designed to do. In 1983 the FDA requested a voluntary hold on drug ads until it could study the effects of advertising on the market. In 1985 the FDA ruled that such ads must also list the possible side effects of any medication. Then came the era of "reminder ads," those vague images of happy users with mention of the brand name, but no mention of the condition it was to treat. The FDA was again disturbed, and studied the issue. This led to new guidelines in 1997, which required television advertising to mention side effects, but didn't require extensive detail. This ruling signaled disappointment for some consumer groups. The controversy over the best way to regulate direct-to-consumer advertising goes on.

http://www.pbs.org/now/science/drugads2.html


Published: July 26, 2009

In the 1980s, Nancy Reagan told Americans to “Just Say No” to recreational drugs. (...)

Representative James P. Moran, Democrat of Virginia, is sponsoring a House bill that would ban ads for prescription sexual aids like Viagra and Levitra from prime-time television, on decency grounds. Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, has said he favors empowering the Food and Drug Administration to bar consumer advertisements for new drugs for an initial period after the F.D.A. approves them — until there has been more real-world experience with the medications.

Meanwhile, Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York, has introduced a bill called the Say No to Drug Ads Act. It would amend the federal tax code to prevent pharmaceutical companies from deducting the cost of direct-to-consumer drug advertisements as a business expense.

“You should not be going to a doctor saying, ‘I have restless leg syndrome’ — whatever the hell that is — or going to a doctor saying, ‘I have the mumps,’ ” Mr. Nadler said in an interview. “You should not be diagnosed by some pitchman on TV who doesn’t know you whatsoever.” (...)

“On First Amendment grounds, I am not going to say we will ban” drug advertising, said Mr. Nadler, who represents parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn. “But they should not be able to get taxpayers to subsidize it.” (...)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/27/business/media/27drugads.html?_r=2&ref=business

Although "Viva Viagra" is probably the worst.

And I, too, am amazed that "insufficient" or "short" eyelashes are now a problem that the drug manufacturers of America have decided needs treatment with a prescription.

and still have a pretty decent amount of hair - but when did being bald become this horrible condition that you would need drugs to treat. Seriously folks I mean come on - when my hair finally goes hell it will mean less money spent on shampoo. Its the fear of death and aging really. Same goes for those male hair coloring products - hell man I EARNED every damn gray hair I've got.

"Stupidity is the basic building block of the universe."
-- Frank Zappa

that I am equally annoyed by those commercials that talk about how miraculously a given supplement can treat a range of medical conditions, all while flashing a micro-font disclaimer (in white type on a pale background) about how the supplement isn't intended to diagnose or treat any disease. In this same unreadable paragraph they reveal that these miraculous statements haven't been evaluated by the FDA.

I also hate when those commercials make meaningless claims that sound impressive, such as "lose up to ten pounds or more in your first week." Well, that means that the claim will be true if you lose anywhere from zero to infinity pounds, so it's hardly a definitive endorsement!


I'd love to be able to say that alt-med companies are the big offenders in this regard, but in fact the manufacturers of mainstream vitamins and "supplements" are the ones I see most often.

that show happy families beaming at each other around the dinner table, kids playing the piano, etc.