Pharmaceutical Advertising

So you’re watching TV and amongst the ‘reality’ shows and screeching wannabe celebs there comes an ad telling you how you’re likely to die any minute. A scrawny bint piously informs us we may be risking heart disease,  stroke, impotence, piles, depression, irritable bowel or baldness. Ideally, all of the above, for that would mean she could peddle the whole kit of pharmaceutical cures to us in one handy pack … but ask your doctor first if this is right for you of course.

Imagine being a GP and putting up with a stream of terrified patients all armed with a little knowledge and a lot of Google. At least in part thanks to the pharmaceutical industry creating markets within the population. Studies showed the Japanese recorded low levels of such disorders as bipolar and depression until drug companies began selling their wares in Japan. Suddenly there was a large jump in people taking anti-depressants and the like. Sow seeds of concern, build up the market, sell, sell, sell. For whose benefit? The shareholders, not yours.

Go to your GP if you have health concerns, don’t buy a cornucopia of drugs because some fool on the TV tells you to. Most of your problems could be solved by getting off your lazy arse and exercising, meeting some real people to enjoy life with, eating decent food and buying a hat.

Yes, their pill might reduce your risk of heart attack by 50%, but does the risk go from 80% to 40% or is it reduced from 1% to 0.5%? If it’s the second one then you’re probably being scared into taking drugs which will make very little difference to your life – or death.

Celebrity Experts

Why  do we listen to the opinions of (mainly) Hollywood celebrities? When Tom Cruise appoints himself an expert in psychiatry and starts preaching on ditching all drug treatments used in controlling mental health issues, people will listen to him. His advice is to buy into his Scientology science fiction to solve your ills … let’s just hope you’ve left the axe at home when you go to work. Come on, his day job is pretending to be someone else as he speaks the words written by someone else, all the while being told where to stand – by someone else. He might think he knows all about psychiatry, but he has no medical, scientific or clinical qualifications to support his delusions.

Speaking of delusions he also believes in flying saucers and ‘Thetans’, some drivel dreamt up by L. Ron Hubbard which is so ridiculous it’s not worth wasting typing to describe it here. Needless to say Ron once said the best way to make a truck load of money was to start a religion. Well done Ron, ya dun good.

Stop listening to actors and other celebrities for advice on your medical issues, environmental issues and anything else to do with science. Unless it’s Brian May from Queen, if you want his opinion on the motion of zodiacal dust particles it’s worth listening to as he actually has the relevant PhD on the subject. If he starts advising you on your diet, cancer treatment, psychiatric illness or congenital birth defects then walk away.

Ask yourself this: would you ask your plumber about which treatment to take for bipolar disorder? No. Thought not, so why listen to some actor? Acting is after all just another job.