Prescription Drug Ads on TV Are Horrible

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Here’s the latest from Pollville:

Robert Blendon, the Harvard professor of health policy who oversaw the poll, was surprised. “There’s something about these ads that bother people a lot more than we would have thought,” he said.

I think Blendon needs to watch more TV. Then he’d understand. In any case, I figure that I should always have at least one purely selfish cause that’s unsullied by either principle or rational analysis, so maybe this will become my new one. I can’t say that I’m especially persuaded by any of the actual policy arguments against drug ads, but damn, they sure are annoying. After watching most television programs these days, I feel vaguely crushed by the miasma of terrible diseases that have been assaulting me for the past hour.

On the other hand, I also figure that cell phone companies and the pharma industry are probably keeping TV afloat almost single-handedly these days. Take away pharma, and it might just collapse completely.

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We’ll say it loud and clear: No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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