3 ms·

I have never got over my visits to North America and seeing endless adverts for prescription drugs - which never actually said what they were supposed to cure.

• andrewla 12y ago
  So you might have seen two types of ads. One type will say what the drug does, but if you say that a drug does something, then you have to list the side effects. Then there's the pure branding ads, where you can say the name of the drug, show pictures of people dancing in forests and playing with puppies, and say "ask your doctor if somethingodin is right for you", without having to spell out the side effects. So first you learn what the drug does, and all the horrific things it will do to you. Then, when you vaguely remember that the drug helps treat a thing you have, you see the branding ads, and then you talk to your doctor, who, while ethically bound to go over the side effects, is not being monitored by the FDA, and thus will hopefully present a rosier picture than the first ad.