http://www.nha2006.com/Big Pharma’s Advertising Frenzy
When drugs are sold like candy, that spells bad news for health.
It slices, it dices, it peels a potato in under three seconds!” Bleary-eyed insomniacs channel surfing at ungodly hours are besieged by a myriad of commercials selling cheap plastic contraptions that no one really needs. Remarkably, despite the pointless nature of many infomercial inventions, they sell like hotcakes— thanks to sophisticated advertising techniques that seem even more effective when viewers’ minds are softened by late-night fatigue.
In a striking juxtaposition, running alongside these late-night ads for all sorts of plastic junk are commercials promoting pharmaceutical drugs. Predictably, synthetic drugs for erectile dysfunction, depression and insomnia frequent the late night airwaves, when the audience is most susceptible to their persuasion.
In its slick, big-budget advertising campaigns, Big Pharma intersperses scenes of happy, healthy-looking people with images of the synthetic drug flavor of the month creating an associative desire that is the lowest form of advertising. In 1971, cigarette ads using similar associative marketing techniques—the ones that equated smoking cigarettes with rugged strength, sex appeal and “coolness”—were banned from radio and television, presumably because of their dangerous side effects. So why is it that, despite synthetic drugs’ confirmed dangerous side effects that have killed or maimed millions of people, did the FDA decide to legalize drug advertisements for television in 1997?
FDA Double Standard
We all know the drill: After presenting a drug as the panacea for all that ails you, the reassuring commercial voiceover suddenly drops to a near-whisper, rapidly and flippantly reeling off a laundry list of side effects that range from minor annoyances to sudden death. Surely this barely perceptible nod to side effect dangers is why the FDA allows drugs to be advertised as panaceas. But does that make it right?
Meanwhile, natural herbs and supplements which have been overwhelmingly shown to be both safe and effective are suppressed by the FDA’s stringent limitations on natural health products’ advertising. In other words, according to the FDA, it’s OK for Big Pharma to aggressively advertise drugs with dangerous side effects but if a natural product manufacturer were to advertise a safe, health-promoting herbal product in the same manner, it would be considered a crime.
Don’t Believe the Hype
There’s a reason why no other industrialized nation will allow drugs to be advertised on television. But here in the United States, we face the Big Pharma swindle, where health is about profits and the American public’s sickness is a gold mine. As long as Americans stay sick, Big Pharma’s wallet stays fat. And as long as the drug companies control the airwaves with their sophisticated, brainwashing advertising campaigns, the American public will continue being programmed to believe that reactive medicine is sensible when in reality the opposite is true.
Have you already noticed Big Pharma’s unscrupulous advertising tactics? Share your insight with friends, and urge them to spread the word. Rejecting drug ads that treat us like imbeciles is an important step in overthrowing the FDA’s health dictatorship and rising up to achieve the vibrant, natural health birthright that is our legacy from God.
Let your elected officials know that you frown upon them taking Big Pharma’s donations. And speak with the dollars you spend: Patronize independent health food stores and purchase safe nutritional supplements from companies that have no pharmaceutical industry ties. Finally, join the Nutritional Health Alliance (NHA) health freedom advocacy group. For the sake of health freedom, join the NHA today!
