Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Wants to Ban Drug Ads on TV. It Wouldn’t Be Easy.

The New York Times ^ | Dec. 23, 2024, 5:00 a.m. ET | Rebecca Robbins

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Since the late 1990s, drug companies have spent tens of billions of dollars on television ads, drumming up demand for their products with cheerful jingles and scenes of dancing patients.

Now, some people up for top jobs in the incoming Trump administration are attacking such ads, setting up a clash with a powerful industry that has long had the courts on its side.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choice for health secretary, is a longtime critic of pharmaceutical advertising on TV, arguing that it leads broadcasters to more favorable coverage of the industry and does not improve Americans’ health. He has repeatedly and enthusiastically called for a ban on such ads.

Elon Musk, who is spearheading a government cost-cutting effort, last month wrote on X, his social-media site, “No advertising for pharma.”

And Brendan Carr, Mr. Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Communications Commission, said that his agency could enforce any ban that is enacted. “I think we’re way, way too overmedicated as a country,” he said.

The push against TV drug ads threatens to dent the revenues of pharmaceutical companies, which can make back in sales five times as much as they spend on commercials, according to some analysts. It could also create uncertainty for major television networks, which bring in substantial revenue from pharmaceutical advertisers trying to reach older viewers, who tend to take more medications.

Though it’s not clear how such a ban might happen — Mr. Kennedy has called for an executive order — any attempt would face an uphill battle. Efforts to modestly restrict drug ads have repeatedly been defeated in the courts, often on First Amendment grounds. The first Trump administration tried to require...

[mowowie]

And i thought those 3 minute phone card commercials from the 90’s were bad..
Pill commercials drive me nut.
If the pill was any good any decent doctor would prescribe it to you anyway why need an ad?
And what decent doctor would take medical advice from a patient that gets his/her information from a tv commercial?

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The purpose of drug advertising is not to sell drugs.

The purpose of drug advertising is to become the primary source of “brought to you by Pfizer” advertising revenue for the antique gaslight “news” media so they will never publish anything negative about the pharmaceutical industry.

The legal name for this is “blackmail.”

[mowowie]

Good One

[mowowie]

Brought to you by Pfizer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAkQlZgnbUQ

Check it out
57 secs

[Nifster]

Are you old enough to have lived through the years of polio or severe measles cases ?

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I beg you. Get more COVID-1984 “boosters.”

[Vision]

YES!

[DCPatriot]

“PRIME” streaming will go belly-up!

[MayflowerMadam]

“Are you old enough to have lived through the years of polio “

Yes. In fact, in 1958, the doctors were sure I had it. (I didn’t.)

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Are you old enough to have lived through the years of polio or severe measles cases ?

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/fortune-fact-check-polio-vaccine-saved-20-million-children-paralysis/