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I get The Nation courtesy of a gift subscription from SHG. It's really interesting reading, if sometimes off in some quadrant of reality I cannot grasp as an essentially linear, western syllogistic thinker. This article on pharmaceutical companies and marketing is really interesting. It talks about how Lilly repackaged and colored Prozac pink, and re-marketed it for premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) (One of the ads got pulled as lacking enough info on side effects etc.). Anyway, this is a very, very interesting twist on all the ads I see during 60 Minutes (whose demographic is older and I guess has lots of ills), which are a litany of aches, pains, fears, and hypochondria-inducing shorts telling you to ask your doc about this pill because it will fix you up... although a few people have experienced strokes, blindness and anal seepage.

OK, in all seriousness now: This really bothers me. Yet it is marketing genius to do the repackaging. The original idea of telling people about the ills and they start self-diagnosing and going off to the doc demanding a prescription is as well. A friend of mine (who I have not seen in ages, but that is beside the point) tells me that many people ask for the brand-name med they see on TV. Is it ethical for the drug companies to do this? Hmmm...I dunno. People make their own choices. It is a good marketing strategy, though, especially since they clearly manage to increase sales this way, and thus increase shareholder return, which is what business is really about.

What bothers me, I think, is that what these ads do is add to people's fears and thus stress levels. It makes them worry. Then they drive their doc nuts over it. People like my folks who will soon be elderly worry about these things a lot. (Fortunately my folks sit in front of the TV and make comments like "crap!" and "nut!" and "impeach that SOB!") I don't think the drug companies should be advertising in this manner. However, I also do not think they should be prohibited from such advertising and marketing campaigns. What it is a question of self-regulation and self-imposed ethics, which this country seems to be losing, if not already lost.