Are so many people getting cancer, the topic is now fit for
radio ads? Or is treating it just so lucrative that ads can ignore the 90
percent plus of people not affected and
not interested in the ads? Either way, ProCure ads for "prostate, brain
and lung cancer" seem to be everywhere. Do we really want to know that men
can avoid "erectile dysfunction" and "incontinence" if they
treat their prostate cancer with proton therapy at a ProCure Center? Wouldn't
men rather hear this from their doctor --and we prefer that they do so?
Most-Sleazy-Disease-Mongering-Ad-Disguised-as-a-PSA Award:
Depression Is Real
It's a disease that "threatens the lives" of
countless Americans, say the ads. It kills like cancer and is as
physiologically-based as diabetes. It is "depression" and it makes
billions of dollars a year for Pharma--especially when people with real job,
family and money woes are made to believe they have it. Even though the
Depression Is Real ads are partially funded by the National Alliance on Mental
Illness (NAMI), which was investigated by Congress for being a Pharma front
group, they were afforded free PSA status on radio station in 2012.
Most-Sleazy-Disease-Mongering-Ad-Disguised-as-a-PSA
Honorable Mention
Drive 4 COPD
The best way to sell a disease (and the drugs designed to go
with it) is spreading fear--especially the fear that the disease is a "silent
killer." So it is no wonder the "Drive 4 COPD" campaign
proclaims that "Millions of Americans don't know they may have
COPD"--chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. If you ever smoked cigarettes and are over 35 you may be
harboring COPD without knowing it, warn the radio ads--which then turn around
and say there is a way to treat the "symptoms" you were just told you
probably don't have. Though the campaign's founding partner is Boehringer
Ingelheim who makes a leading COPD drug, "Drive 4 COPD" ads are
termed PSAs. Are you listening
station managers?
Most-Preachy-PSA-Not-From-Pharma Award
People Struggling With Hunger
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