Hey Freak!

social experiment

Joelle and I decided to do a little experiment. A TV watching experiment. Everybody's invited to participate. It'll be easy, trust me.

Here it is:

Posted by mikey at 06:56 AM. Filed under: And you? •

(28) Comments • (1) Trackbacks • Permalink

Next entry: in the nick of time! Previous entry: customer dis-service

Wait, are you insinuating that I can live without having to take 19 pills every hour on the hour? Surely you jest!!

Posted by Ms. Pants on 08/15 at 07:20 AM

you know what i really hate? those commercials that are like "do you feel sad sometimes? are you tired when you wake up in the morning? do you get hungry during the day? then you may be suffering from [some horrible disease]!" they're turning me into a hypocondriac!

but anyway, i'll try to remember to keep track of commercials while i'm watching football tonight.

Posted by geeky on 08/15 at 07:38 AM

I think it was Chris Rock that was talking about this in one of his shows or something...He was talking about all the drug commercials and how they make it sound like everyone would need at least one of these pills:

"Do you go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning?

Shit! I have that!"

Or something to that effect...

Posted by itchy on 08/15 at 07:41 AM

Is the advertising of prescription drugs allowed in the US? I'm just curious, since that's prohibited in Finland - they can only advertise over-the-counter drugs to the public, prescription drug ads are for health care professionals only.

Posted by Kirsi on 08/15 at 07:49 AM

Okay, and there are such things as stupid questions. I'm guessing Cialis and Vioxx are prescription drugs in the US as well, right? Which pretty much answers my question.

Posted by Kirsi on 08/15 at 07:51 AM

I get tired of those commercials but (hear me out) before they came along, no one knew anything about what drugs were available except medical pros. I kind of like knowing that if I ever need chemo, there's stuff out there to help with the nasty side effects or if I'm losing my memory, eyesight or "sparkling love for life," there are drugs that might help. Besides, I don't guess they are any worse than all the "feminine hygiene" commercials.

Posted by on 08/15 at 08:01 AM

Kirsi, please. it wasn't a stupid question, seeing's how you don't live here (in the U.S.)

it is definitely legal for drug companies to advertise... on TV and in print (magazines, newspapers). really, the ads are inescapable.

Posted by mikey on 08/15 at 08:04 AM

Maybe I'm not the right person to comment, considering who I work for

, but I will anyway. To answer Kirsi, the ads are legal, but have only become so in the past few years. Before that Direct To Consumer ads were not allowed. The industry argues that if helps to inform the patient. Others argue that it creates diseases out of thin air. I don't find them any worse than many other commercials for the most part, but I could do without the ED ones. Cialis seems to be cornering the market on "old people doing it outside" while Levitra is the innuendo king ("Really, it's just a coincidence that the guy in our commercial threw a football through the hole in a tire three times right in a row. We didn't mean anything.")

I don't think they really do that much good, because too much of the population keeps itself underinformed anyway and another large part asks for whatever they see on TV regardless of what it's for. Then again, I'm far from the part of my company that works on this type of stuff, so I'm not exactly that well informed myself.

Posted by Craig on 08/15 at 08:22 AM

Boner pills?!? Priceless!

Posted by jo-fo on 08/15 at 08:58 AM

And if it isn't a drug commercial then it is a car commercial.

Makes you long for the days of Oscar Meyer, Dunkin Donuts and Libby, Libby, Libby on the label days.

Posted by Murphy on 08/15 at 09:28 AM

Another thing about these drug commercials that irritates the piss out of me....the ones that don't even tell you what they are for but say "Ask your doctor if_______is right for you." Why would I ask a doctor is that drug is right for me if I don't even know what the hell it is for?!?!?! Gah!

Posted by itchy on 08/15 at 09:39 AM

I could use me some Taco Bell right now . . .mmmmm. Dammit MIkey-you made me hungry!

My word is sausage. That sounds good too.

Posted by on 08/15 at 09:53 AM

I don't watch TV. It makes me angry. The more I think how sociaty has chosen materialism as it's opiate of choice the more disgusted with the general public I become.

Posted by Tripps on 08/15 at 10:14 AM

I'm in, brother. Look for a report in the morning.

Posted by Maine on 08/15 at 01:02 PM

Are these prescription drugs being advertised?

If so, it's a bloody sad world where someone can watch an ad about anti-depressants, walk in to a doctors office and say "I feel down, can I have some drugs please" and actually get a script.

Posted by Jessica on 08/15 at 02:18 PM

Yeah, I really hate getting coke pushed on me... no wait. Actually I NEED to do a few lines to keep up with all the drug commercials. Great! Now ya got me jonesin'.

Posted by Nick on 08/15 at 02:41 PM

My favorite ones are the ads for a 'cure' to something minor like headaches or stubbed toes and then the guy tries to run through the side effects really fast at the end so no one will notice.

"Ask your doctor about (insert drug of choice). Sideeffectsmayinclude nasuea, dizziness, cancer, anal leaking, blindness, uncontrolable bleading and/or death"

Posted by Mike on 08/15 at 03:36 PM

i would totally do this, but we record all the shows we want to watch on hte DVR and then fast forward through the commercials. we are bad consumers.

Posted by franci on 08/15 at 07:18 PM

okay, i have to make an exception. we were just watching some archaeology show about the search for ghengis khan's grave and i counted at least 3 drug commercials. i didn't pay attention to what they were.

Posted by franci on 08/15 at 07:21 PM

well i was gonna do this... but then i remembered i don't watch commercials. i'm a chronic channel flipper, so when commercials come on, i flip to something else. but i can tell you this - i do not recall seeing any prescription drug ads during football last night, but i did see the same beer commercial about 50 times.

Posted by geeky on 08/16 at 04:27 AM

I started watching CSI on Spike last night at around 8:26. The first set of commercials had one for Pepto Bismol (the god awful one where they are doing that stupid ass song and dance...) and one for Lotrimin AF or whatever it is...for athlete's foot.
The second set of commercials had one for Lunesta - the prescription sleep aid.
That was it. I really expected to see more than that...
I stopped watching TV at 8:58...

Posted by itchy on 08/16 at 04:48 AM

is drug only defined by "pharmacutical company product" because i do believe that dunken donuts and coke are drug pushers as well... and i dont mean just in their advertising. shit like that is addictive.

Posted by liz on 08/16 at 05:38 AM

Now that I'm living in my parents' basement, I've noticed that during her 'shows' (i.e. Days of our Lives and General Hospital) they show an awful lot of those "I used to pee my pants all the time but now I take this drug and I never ever pee" commercials. You know -- "Gotta go gotta go gotta go right now". They also have a LOT of Tums commercials, and Depends, and of COURSE the Feminine Hygiene ones.

Posted by louise on 08/16 at 06:31 AM

It just goes to show you how much money the drug companies are making and ripping everybody off. The companies who advertise the most are usually paying HUGE amounts of money to have as many ads as possible, on as many channels as possible and as many times as possible.

Posted by Lori on 08/16 at 11:46 AM

i saw an ad for this the other day. is it just me or does it seem like the drug companies are now inventing diseases to sell their drugs? much like the greeting companies inventing holidays to keep their sales in the deep, deep black.

insanity.

Posted by franci on 08/18 at 04:58 PM

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