My family and I have been watching post-season baseball, and I think I have to lie down.
We've seen so many ads for drugs prescribed to treat plaque psoriasis, Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis that I'm sure I've developed a rash, nausea, joint pain and dizziness. Just by watching.
iSpot, the TV ad news site, says drug companies bought $895.8 million worth of ads in sports programming last year. The commercials that run during post-season baseball are rife with talk of dermatitis, dehydration, and wheezing. It's almost a relief to see just an ad for beer, or a lizard selling car insurance.
"The baseball playoffs are watched by millions," Dr. Caleb Alexander, of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness, reminds us. "These games offer drug companies a captive audience, a lot with grey hair, who may have diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol and other common diseases."
Prescription drug ads were once banned on broadcasts. But companies argued that infringed on free speech; and the drugs could help people. The FDA now permits pharmaceutical ads, as long as what regulators call "dual-modality risk statements" — possible side effects — are clearly stated.
And so you see commercials that show winsome old friends dancing, biking, and shooting down forested zip lines, despite the shadow of psoriasis, insomnia, anxiety or eczema.
Then the same soothing voice that advises you to see a doctor for a prescription cautions the medication might also lead you to develop symptoms of myelosuppression, psoriatic arthritis and abdominal swelling.
"Medicines are not inherently 'good' or 'bad,'" advises Dr. Alexander. But direct-to-consumer advertising for drugs, he believes, "may drive behavior in ways that patients, and doctors — keep in mind we are watching the baseball games, too — may not even be aware of. It's not just information," notes the doctor. "It's persuasion."
And so now, back to baseball. Enjoy the World Series! Dodgers and Blue Jays, sports-betting and beer, auto loans and iPhones. Allergies, high blood pressure, and narcolepsy. Headache, stomach acid and/or facial swelling. Consult a doctor. And do not operate heavy machinery while watching sports!
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