During a recent visit to the United States, I was impressed by several advertising campaigns. The American Beverage Association (ABA) is running a series of spots that alternatingly complain of what it deems the over-regulation of soft drinks and promote the efforts of member manufacturers to make their products less conspicuously unhealthy, the idea being that consumers know what they want better than politicians or bureaucrats do. In a similar vein, I saw many commercials for class action suits by lawyers groups soliciting viewers who may have suffered adverse effects from specific drugs or medical treatments. Suing hospitals and pharmaceutical companies is big business.

Though not as big a business as the pharmaceuticals themselves. For years I've marveled at the way drugs are peddled over the air in the U.S. The commercials are visually anodyne and verbally disconcerting, showing older people, usually couples, enjoying a sunset walk on the beach or laughing over a meal while the soft-spoken narrator enumerates in the frankest terms the horrific side effects that could attend the use of this particular prescription medication. As a friend of mine once pointed out, if you just listen to these ads with your eyes closed there is no way you would ever take these drugs, but the makers have to provide this aural fine print because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires it.

Since I only see these ads once in a while during concentrated visits, the cognitive dissonance is marked, especially when they are followed by commercials for rich fast foods or snacks that clearly are not good for you in the portions depicted and the frequency implied. It doesn't take a huge leap of logic to conclude that the diet this advertising approach sells is directly related to some of the health issues the drugs were formulated to address.