I wonder if the law that requires the statements of adverse events doesn’t already require this, without saying so explicitly. That is, if the ads are required to present adverse events, it can be assumed that “as convincingly as alleged benefits are presented” was intended. Keeping the visuals positive almost certainly renders the narration of adverse effects ineffective.

But it’s entirely possible that the law specifically states that the narration, not the ad as a whole, has to present the dark side. I guess that’s pretty likely…got some research to do.

In addition, 50% of the time a drug ad runs, it should lead with the negatives.

Call me a dreamer.

I was a union man and was laid off for months. I can recall “seeing things” and “hearing things” as you did. Back then, T.V. in my area only broadcast until about midnight on Sundays and once I lost that to keep my mind occupied, I had some very, difficult times.

I was never comfortable with the “healthcare” industry so I went to a holistic doctor treating my mother’s cancer, he took one look at me and asked if I was under a lot of stress lately, I explained my disdain for “safe” pharmaceuticals and my desperate need of undisturbed sleep. He put me on vitamin “F” and bone meal and I began sleeping again.

Slowly, over weeks, I was able to clear my head and put all things in perspective. Oddly, once I realized the very worst thing that could happen to me was dying which would end the misery/terror, I began calming down, didn’t worry as much and slowly, over about a year, finally was able to put it into the “memory hole”.

Knowing what you went through, my heart goes out to you. Hang in there, it’ll get better.

With such a huge demand for pharmaceuticals I can see why Big Pharma spends so much dough for TV ads. People want medical drugs! I think you mentioned in a previous post Jon that people taking a multitude of medical drugs wear it like a “badge of honor.” I’m in my middle-age and that is true with so many people in my age demographics. Many of the middle-age and older are so reliant on the meds they take and implicitly trust their doctor (s) that they would take rat poison if they were told it would improve their symptoms.

And people don’t research medical drugs or medical procedures hardly anymore. A plethora of Industry-funding safety studies & buried studies on so many popular drugs that people would be stunned that some of this stuff actually gets approved by the FDA (who would have thought. Lol). And our trusted physicians? They are aware of the publication bias of the industry-funded studies published in the journals and most, IMO, simply don’t care. But I guess why would they if so many people demand the drugs anyway. And the drugs simply treat the symptoms making people more reluctant in making any dietary & lifestyle changes that might improve their condition.
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Granted there are trauma situations from accidents & degenerative joint ailments that might necessitate medical drugs for the short term (I was hit & injured by a careless driver and required NSAIDs/pain meds for several musculoskeletal injuries). However, many other other chronic ailments (e.g., hypertension, diabetes, acid reflux, obesity-related diseases, etc.) can be prevented with regular excercise, healthy organic food, dietary supplements, etc. But sadly many of the population are at all not interested (as we’ve become a very sedentary society with poor eating habits) and demand medical intervention & pharmaceuticals. And Big Pharma is all too willing to oblige laughing all the way to the bank. That’s why you’ll never see a poor Big Pharma sales rep.????

According to Del Bigtree, at ACIP (the CDC’s board that votes on whether vaccines go on the childhood schedule), they actually giggle and laugh when approving new vaccines that they know have no evidence of safety or effectiveness.

“We didn’t even have enough cohorts for this study, but we’re going to approve it anyway.”

“AHAHAHA!”

At the one three or four weeks ago, they wanted to add a third MMR vaccine to the schedule, because of the huge mumps outbreaks occurring in populations that are already about 95% fully vaccinated against mumps.

No one asked, “Is it possible this mumps vaccine isn’t working at all?” No. All they wanted to do was add a third one.

“Well, there’s really been no studies about what a third MMR vaccine would do, so we really had to search the dark corners for every little drop of evidence that this would work, but we used computer models, and you know how good they are!”

“AHAHAHA!”

“Approved!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIdHC7FZfB4