Stating the obvious
I was watching TV the other night and a couldn’t help but laugh and ponder the content of a couple pharmaceutical commercials I saw. The first was for the new birth control “patch.” I’m not sure on its exact name, maybe I’ll have to ask my friendly neighborhood pharmacist. Anyway, at the end of the commercial they rattle of a little disclaimer, part of which stated “the patch should not be used by women that are pregnant.” Ok…first, why would any woman in their right mind use the patch if they knew they were pregnant? Second, assuming it’s directed to the other group, women that are pregnant but don’t know they are, if the woman doesn’t know she’s pregnant, what good does it do to tell her not to use the patch? I guess birth control is sometimes used for things other than birth control, none the less I found it thought provoking :).
The second commercial was for a prescription “sleep aid.” I thnk it was called Ambien, but I can’t be sure. Anyway, they listed “drowsiness” as a side effect. Umm…I thought drowsiness was more the purpose of a sleep aid as opposed to a side effect. In fact…I must say, I’d be a little hesitant about taking a sleep aid that didn’t make me drowsy. I dunno…I’m not a pharmacist so I really shouldn’t question, I’m sure they have their reasons (most of which are probably legal).
April 22nd, 2003 at 2:09 pm
Here’s just a few links that I thought were funny…
rinkworks.com/said/warnings/shtml
http://www.dumb.com/productwarnings.htm
The point is that it shouldn’t suprise you jeff, since you are in the IS department at the foundation, how amazingly stupid people can be. I mean how long do you have to think up an idea of how to melt your floppy drive? Only your lovable office workers need disclaimers like those shown above.
April 22nd, 2003 at 9:54 pm
Yeah, you gotta wonder on some of these warnings. Why you would take a medication where side effects are “intestinal cramping, diarrhea, and oily flatulence (Xenical)”, I don’t know, but it gets advertised an people buy it! As for the side effects, yeah, it’s all about legality, but what can you do. It works though - you better believe we get people asking for “the purple pill” or the blood glucose machine “with the drum.”
These guys aren’t in a billion dollar industry to let doctors tell their patients what to take without some influence. Now, instead of giving doctors sweet-a$$ comps (we get pens, IF THAT!), they go straight to patients! It’s madness…
…of course, madness pays well these days, so I ain’t complainin’.