"Ask your doctor..."

So frequently we see or hear this catch phrase either in a four-color pharmaceutical company magazine ad or in a dramatized prime-time television network newcast ad. These ads are of drugs--usually expensive ones--that pharmaceutical sponsors aim toward large numbers of potentially new, frequently older, patients who are not aware of the benefits these drugs can bring to them.

What most viewers, readers, do not realize is that pharmaceutical companies have advertising budgets that usually far exceed even their research and development budgets. So the pharmaceutical company wants to get the biggest "bang" for its advertising dollar. It has found that it cannot do that by straight advertising in medical journals or medical publications, simply because most readers of such journals--doctors--are in the know about these drugs and may not necessarily be in agreement concerning their "merits."

Adertising directly to the consumer through the media, however, has greatly increased the sales of their products, drug companies have found.

An ad on a prime-time network television newscast goes something like this: Frequently a well-known actor appears and states: "I have (XYZ) malady"--the implication is that you, too, may have it, but either you don't know about it or perhaps you're too uninformed (dumb) to know what to do about it. The actor continues: "I use (ABC) product. It gives me the freedom I've long missed. I don't have to restrict my lifestyle anymore. My symptoms have largely disappeared, and I only have to take one pill a day (week, month)." As the actor recites this, he/she is depicted in social situations, showing that the illness no longer is restrictive of normal activities. As the actor beams the benefits of the drug, what is equally recited are the sometimes horrendous side effects of the drug, in some instances dwarfing the medical reasons for the drug. "Yes, this drug for minor bee stings can produce fatal heart attacks, strokes, pneumonia and terrible sore throats, but you'll never be troubled by these pesky insect bites again! Just ask your doctor..."

But these ads do not concern bee stings. They concern abdominal illnesses, headaches, osteoporosis, high blood pressure, heart ailments, stroke prevention and a myriad other conditions that large segments of the population--potential, new customers--worry about.

Most viewers, readers will discount the side effects, thinking if the advertised drug can do for me what it has done for (the character in the ad), I'd like to find out more about it. "Ask your doctor..." is exactly what the patient will do.

The psychodynamics of this situation tip the scale greatly in favor of the pharmaceutical company. Here's how it works.

The patient confronts his/her physician. "You know, doctor, I have these stomach upsets, especially after a spicy meal, and I've seen this ad on television of (ABC) drug that can help. Can I have this drug?" The doctor, perhaps well aware of the patient's condition but reluctant to prescribe the drug for other medical reasons, nevertheless realizes that if he doesn't agree to prescribe it he may well lose a patient. The patient may merely go to another physician until he/she gets the drug.

"Ask your doctor" advertising works because it empowers the patient to ask the doctor directly about a drug it would not occur to the patient to take, were it not for the ad. The doctor would not normally want to incur the risk of losing--or not accommodating--a patient, so the doctor agrees, although perhaps with some reservations, to prescribe the drug.

Drug companies justify these ads by saying they are performing a service--giving information to the public that may be of great benefit to them. What they are actually doing is successfully hooking hundreds, if not thousands, of new customers.

When these ads advise you to "ask your doctor," it is actually like a noose being thrown over your head and being yanked tight. If you follow the drug companies' advice, you may find yourself taking an expensive and unnecessary medication, incurring the risk of serious illnesses as a result of the drug, corrupting the doctor-patient relationship, i.e., your welfare, in favor of pharmaceutical company interests. By agreeing to the pharmaceutical company's recommendation, you will have unwittingly put yourself in the role of a pawn in the fight for your dollar and your medical well-being.