don's report archive

by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.

Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

Pretty much all the honest truth-telling there is in the world is done by children.
Oliver Wendell Holmes

You might consider the words of one of America's greatest jurists the next time you see an ad. Remind yourself that children did not place the ad. It always surprises me to read consumer reports that detail the extent to which people buy based on product advertising. American companies spent $8 billion last year advertising on television alone. Political candidates spent over a billion dollars in 2002 just on television ads. Spending on ads is up 20 percent over the year. If you are not voting or buying based on all this advertising, then your neighbors must be doing so, since the advertisers know what they get for their money. One of my favorite oxymorons is "truth in advertising?" Ha! These two words do not go together in a logical sentence!

Remember the jejune and infamous "Alive with Pleasure" billboards depicting orgasmically happy, beautiful people in the throes of nicotine bliss, dancing, singing and whooping for joy? It was never clear what was so exciting. Surely it could not have been the prospects of future throat, lung and stomach cancer. Such ads were so ludicrous, but they must have been effective. Just the same, one puzzles that such depictions could succeed in motivating naïve and otherwise clueless smokers to buy nicotine products in order that they, too, can experience bliss and sing, dance and whoop, like the young smokers in the ads.

A few years ago, an article in the New York Times (August 5, 2001) described how such ads, while offensive enough when done to promote smoking, are over the top when employed for medical advertising. After all, the risks associated with embellishing the benefits of smoking or the appearance of fast food, or just about any category of products, are appreciably lower than those having to do with creating misconceptions concerning a mortal disease. The ads for AIDS medications depict robust young folks in the prime of health, some climbing mountains, others riding bikes, throwing javelins (how many people, let alone AIDS patients, throw javelins?), working on sailboats and so on. An FDA critic observes that such activities are "not generally representative of HIV patients!" Don't you love understatements?

In addition, and I suppose this is the greater concern regarding "truth" in advertising, such ads seem to imply that the drugs promoted either cure HIV infection, reduce its transmission or eliminate its effects, none of which is accurate. Another critic observed that such ads give people the idea that there is a cure for AIDS. When ads do that, some easily fooled folks will be less resolute in taking precautions, thinking falsely that AIDS is being prevented or at least controlled by such drugs. One official at the Centers for Disease Control stated that it is important not to minimize or distract anyone from the reality that AIDS "is still a lifelong, incurable disease."

One major drug company (Merck) responded to such criticisms from consumer groups and federal regulators by pulling the ads that had been targeted for these reasons.

You can immunize yourself against such marketing nonsense by adopting an attitude of bemused skepticism toward advertising. Some ads are obviously more ridiculous and clearly false than others, but all are designed to sell, not to convey objective information. If you keep this fact in mind, you won't look at an ad and confuse it with an article in a refereed scientific journal.

Unfortunately, the rest of the world population will not adopt this position anytime soon, so it is likely that medical advertising similar to the above-mentioned medication ads will continue. Those who are easily fooled by such ads will continue to be exploited and manipulated. At least you won't be taken in, and as far as you are concerned, that is of great importance.

Be well, be skeptical and don't take advertising at face value, as if it were a Papal encyclical. While you're at it, don't be too swayed by Papal encyclicals, either. Do your own research, and look on the bright side of life, anyway. Cheers.

(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the MENTAL DOMAIN under the skill area of effective decisions. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)

(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)

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