I'm particularly disgusted by the advertising I see for antidepressants - and the worst offender is the Eli Lilly Company. You see, Prozac, which is probably one of the most unnecessary, over-prescribed medications in the history of the world, is coming off of patent and will no longer be exclusive to Lilly. So what do they do? Come up with a replacement, Cymbalta. They are now pushing this hard on TV and in print and are totally clueless as to what they should really be saying."Depression hurts" is the theme of their campaign. They show a sad mother who can't care for her kids or man who refuses to play with his dog. The thing is, someone who is truly depressed - someone who truly needs medication to combat severe, clinical depression - doesn't care! You're too depressed to be concerned with what's going on and showing happy families enjoying each other does NOT motivate you to run out and ask your doctor if Cymbalta is right for you! Actually it just makes you more depressed to see these fun-loving people who obviously don't have nearly the severity of problems in life that you face.
If anything, Lilly should be marketing toward the NON-depressed people who might be able to step in and do something for a loved one who is suffering. Talk to the people who can do something - not the depressed person who feels powerless.
This assumption - that depressed people want desperately NOT to be depressed any longer - is a fallacy that totally negates any value their multi-million dollar ad campaign might provide. But then again, their motivation is not to help people. It's to sell unnecessary drugs, so I guess it doesn't really matter what they say or to whom they say it.
As far as they are concerned, you could have a fungal toenail...just be sure to ask your doctor if Cymbalta is right for you!
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