Perhaps one of the strangest differences between television in the United States of America, versus other countries, is the abundance of commercials advertising prescription drugs.
Most Americans may not be aware, but the United States is one of only two countries that allows “direct to consumer” pharmaceutical advertising — the only other country that permits these ads to run on television is New Zealand.
And there are a lot of these ads. An estimate from 2017 approximated that more than $4 billion is spent yearly on these advertisements, and it’s one of the largest categories of television commercials. There’s some evidence that these commercials work, in two ways:
- Among individuals already consuming the drug, they increase adherence (willingness to stick with the drug);
- They lead new individuals to request the drug, although these individuals are less likely to stick with the drug or remain compliant in taking it.
There’s a lot of discussion about these commercials, but today, we’re going to take a look at just one part of the ad — the long, scary list of side effects that the announcer hastens through, just before the big finish of the commercial. “This drug may cause heartburn, headache, sore throat, fever, incontinence, heart attacks, stroke, diabetes, and death…”
Where does this list of side effects come from? And how many of them are real?
And finally, if they’re real, why would anyone take the drug, knowing that they’ll get way more problems than what they’re fixing?
#health #medicine #pharmaceutical #advertising #science #data science