http://bonkersinstitute.org/medshow/thoraztime.html
The link above is an ad that was run by Thorazine (a brand of the anti-psychotic drug chlorpromazine) in 1957. The drug is used primarily to treat patients who have schizophrenia. However, if you look through the Thorazine section on Bonkers Institute you’ll see it was marketed as the solution to dozens of other conditions. These included alcoholism, anxiety, arthritis, asthma, aggression, agitated depression...and that’s just the A’s. It is almost as if the marketing team reviewed all of these ailments and found a way to link them to something that the drug could “fix”. For example, women in menopause are worried about aging, worry causes stress, stress causes anxiety…tranquilizers ease anxiety and therefore “cure” women in menopause (http://bonkersinstitute.org/medshow/thorazmenop.html).
When I saw this particular ad I had to re-read it a second time because I didn’t think it could possibly be real, but it most certainly is. It is a drug advertisement that poses as an official unbiased article. With "EXTRA" written in large bold letters across the top and a marketing claim that looks like a headline, it could easily be mistaken for an unpaid section of the publication it was run in. It is important to note that the ad was printed in Volume 8 of a medical journal called Mental Hospitals.
The "article" is about a new slow release capsule called Spansule ™ that will allow for fewer daily doses of Thorazine. The caption of the photo reads “Only one or two doses daily save time in busy hospital wards where three or four ‘dosage rounds’ were required’”. Thorazine was targeting medical professionals suggesting they use their drug, not because it was the best choice for the patients, but because it would be convenient and economical for the staff and institution. The fact that the drug had also been marketing itself for every condition under the sun helps cements the motivations of the drug company as purely for profit. It subtracts any concern for the patient or commitment to the safe and effective use of the drug from the equation.
I agree, the manufacturers of Thorazine are clearly out for a quick buck. The laundry list of ailments the manufacturer claims that it will fix is staggering. Prescribing a powerful antipsychotic for some of these conditions seems a little like fishing with dynamite. It's too bad they don't list any of the potential side effects, like tardive dyskinesia. I hope this is an extreme case:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.primehealthchannel.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Tardive-Dyskinesia-2.jpg
This ad is very interesting and I think that it helps to highlight a completely different idea about who is being cared for and for what purpose. In marketing medication to mental hospitals, the manufacturers of Thorazine made a very wise decision in highlighting time management.
ReplyDeleteIt can be really hard to get people to take their medications. I can see why this would have saved employees in mental hospitals A LOT of time. Additionally, I think that other ads on the site that also targeted people who worked in mental hospitals demonstrate a marked disregard for what we would not call "patient rights."
For instance, this advertisement for Haldol talks about "highly recalcitrant pyschotic patients" and brags that Haldol "is not only tasteless, but colorless and odorless as well. It can therefore be added without patient detection to any routine vehicle pleasing to the patient's taste, including fruit juice and even water."
http://bonkersinstitute.org/medshow/9recalcitrant.html