Are you well?

In New Zealand (at least when I left, hopefully things have not declined too far in the intervening months) prescription drug advertising is a relatively new thing, having been legalised only a few years ago.  So it's not much of a problem, you can just tune out the few ads that you come across.

In the United States things are much more advanced.  I assume there has never been any restriction on drug advertising - presumably it would be unconstitutional.  But however it relates to the nation's constitution, it has a poor effect on my constitution because it is everywhere, especially on television.  I doubt an ad break goes by without at least one long spiel for some wonder drug or other.  That may reflect in part the kind of channels I watch - programming targeted towards the geriatric end of the audience will include more such advertising, I suppose, but even on the channels targeted toward the more youthful and (one would think) healthy end of the market carries these ads.  If you don't think there's anything wrong with you, they try to make you think there might be, and then sell you the pill to fix it.

Just off the top of my head I can think of commercials I've seen for drugs to treat arthritis, depression, insomnia, heart disease, acne, indigestion, psoriasis, short eyelashes and dry eyes.  They're all soothing, slick and positive with gentle muzak in the background, certainly never depicting the diseases they're about  That's no doubt to counter the lengthy voice over that lists the risks and side-effects from taking the medicine (I'm particularly amazed by the psoriasis drug that seems to be carcinogenic, and the surprising number of drugs that warn they may increase your risk of death).  By the end of it all you may still not have a desire to take the drug they're hawking, but you may want a little something for the nagging depression the ads produce.

Then of course you get the ads placed by lawyers to attract people who have taken drug X and may be entitled to compensation.  Presumably because the manufacturers left something off the long list of risks.  There's one on CNN right now as I type this.

It's makes me sick, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.  The pharmaceutical companies are probably already working to create a pill to cure this revulsion.  They can advertise it on television.  They'll make a mint.