• takeda@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      4 hours ago

      You mean prescription medication? I saw in Europe they still have tons of advertisements for OTC medication and a lot of them are snake oil.

      • Technoworcester@feddit.uk
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        3 hours ago

        Prescription yes. OTC is more lax but (from what I have seen though of course could be wrong) still more tightly controlled than in the USA.

    • CADmonkey@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      There are radio ads too. Every single one is either “buy a car”, “You have low-T and need to come get shots to be a Real Man™”, or “Buy these boner pills for your sad limp dick”

    • Malyca@lemmy.zip
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      21 hours ago

      I went to a hotel and watched cable recently and it’s, no joke, 85%+ drug commercials. Just endless ads with disgusting side effects read over happy images.

      • Apytele@sh.itjust.works
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        18 hours ago

        There’s basically two side effect profiles:

        1. It makes you fat, sleepy, confused, constipated / diarrhea / both, and your genitals stop working, but possibly in a different way than your usual everyday hell so maybe it’ll be a little better?

        2. It only has one side effect that only happens 0.00001% of the time: instant horrifyingly painful death.

    • Zink@programming.dev
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      18 hours ago

      Even living in the US (but being on Lemmy and therefore knowing computers and hating advertising) getting stuck watching cable TV at a relative’s house can be a real “boring dystopia” experience.

      It can be genuinely disturbing when you realize the majority of the ads you’ve seen were for ONLY medication and gambling.

    • SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml
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      21 hours ago

      Who do you even advertise to in the UK if you want to sell your new med? 🤔 Is there like a specific person sitting in the NHS whose job it is to scout for new drugs?

      • saltesc@lemmy.world
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        21 hours ago

        You just rock up and say, “I need something for this” and they give it to you. Otherwise a doctor prescribes it. And it’s cheap.

        Companies will advertise approved drugs to medical boards to be distributed down to doctors. So medical professionals decide what the best options are. There’s no taking drugs just because it was on TV.

        Considering Americans lag behind the developed world in life expectancy and general health, I think it’s safe to say the drug industry is only there to make money and it certainly causes harm, ironically.