Posts Tagged ‘alcohol advertising’

Commercials for Drugs

Monday, July 27th, 2009

An article in the New York Times this weekend talked about the commercials put out by the prescription drug community. With all the hubbub as of late with prescription pain killers and their disasterous potential (and addictive) side effects, more and more awareness is being brought out by the government about pharmaceutical companies and their advertising. Considering in our not-too-distant past we could see ads for cigarettes on TV- and that beer commercials are some of the highest-budgeted in the advertising industry- this is a little bit of a non-shocker.

However- when you think about it- why are we talking about regulating ads for Cialis and Latisse when alcohol commercials are so prevalent in prime-time television and sporting events? Alcohol is linked to 75,000 US deaths a year, according to a government study- and that’s the third-leading cause of mortality. Even more shocking- the fact that half of Russian deaths in the 90s are blamed on alcohol-related consequences. So who’s the bigger criminal? The prescription drug market trying to get us to buy more restless-leg-syndrom drugs? Or the TV regulators that consistently allow alcohol ads- that kill 75,000 Americans a year- to have prime television real estate? This should be an easy call.

So, government, get rid of the “Just Say No” campaign and get to the bottom of this- stop allowing drug and alcohol companies to determine their amount of mind-share. We deal with enough problems already with people making their own decisions- the last thing we need is more convincing.

For help with a drug or alcohol problem, contact us directly at 877-320-0247.

Tags: addiction, alcohol, alcohol advertising, alcohol-related consequences, alcoholism, assistance in recovery, beer advertising, pain medication, prescription advertising
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