Chekhov's Mistress
Is it a case of life imitating marketing,
or marketing imitating life?
What is this space for if not to give me a place to write about those things that are not really significant enough to bring up in conversation. Today’s little irksome observation comes from an article in U.S. News & World Report: “Living with Adult A.D.D. New Hope for Coping with the Distraction and Anxiety.” Upon first seeing this headline splashed across the cover, I thought to myself, gee what a coincidence that Adult ADD has become a newsworthy issue at the same time the drug companies are advertising a solution in the form of a little pill called “Strattera.” With curiosity piqued, I perused the article and conveniently found Lilly’s ad toward the end, asking: Are you Distracted? Disorganized? Frustrated? if so, “ask your doctor if non-stimulant Strattera is right for you.”
Now, I am not making a commentary about those that actually have A.D.D. I often suffer myself from a similar affliction called E.D.D. (employment deficit disorder). But who isn’t distracted, disorganized and frustrated? No, my beef is on anther flank. This is yet another case of uncreative editors trying to sell magazines on a topic seemingly spurred by a drug company’s marketing campaign. It’s just not news. Most people will agree that drug ads on tv are so ridiculous, with their soothing soundtrack of dire warnings overlaying scenes of bliss, that it’s hard to imagine that they are effective. Yet, and this is my real complaint, how do we separate information from marketing? WebMD, my typical first stop for medical information, flashes an ad in the Adult ADHD section (more prominent than the text) that offers a free screening tool for the affliction. I’m all for the freedoms that allow companies to advertise their drugs, but there must be a point where the media should not be so distracted by advertising profits that they cease to be of any benefit to their audience.
comments
No CommentsCreative Commons License Deed Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
You are free:
- to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work
-
Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
-
No Derivative Works. You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.
- For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. The best way to do this is with a link to this web page.
- Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.
- Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author's moral rights.
This is a human-readable summary of the Legal Code (the full license):
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/legalcode
This site employs rank-denial and other anti-spam measures.
Your link here will do nothing for your rankings or traffic. Off-topic comments will be deleted.
Previous entry: Will Congress Ban Spanish Olives in their Martinis?
About this Post
- Posted by: Bud Parr
- Date: April 21, 2004
- Filed Under:
Polygluttonous: Food/Places
- Comments:0
- Links to this Post: Technorati
