The advertising industry purports to inform the public
about the availability of goods, services and activities that will make people
happier, healthier and richer. Is it the public good that is being promoted or
the good of the producers and pushers of products?
Recently Dr. John Abramson, a Boston doctor, warned Canadians not to open their
airwaves, newspapers and magazines to drug advertising. When the US opened the
way for direct consumer advertising, patients came in asking for - demanding -
heavily advertised expensive drugs they didn't need, and doctors could not
convinced them otherwise. They would not accept the possibility that “they don't
need a pill for restless leg syndrome, social anxiety disorder...or loss of
libido”.
The company research prior to a new drug being released has tended to be skimpy
with unfavourable findings often suppressed. The results, reported in the
scientific/medical journals, gave doctors and citizens information,
manufacturers pending patent rights and the advertising agencies lucrative
contracts. Heavy consumer advertising, however, has compromised patient safety,
increased health care costs and distorted doctor-patient relationships.
Canada's prohibition on direct advertising to consumers by drug companies is
being challenged right now in the courts by a large advertising conglomerate
claiming that the prohibition is a violation of the constitutional guarantee of
free speech.
Happiness, wholeness and richness are the states of being when the actions of
the body, energies, feelings and thoughts are coordinated to serve lasting
ideals. They are not derived from things, persons or drugs as the producers,
purveyors and others would have the populace believe. Note that the word
“health” comes from Old English and German words meaning “wholeness” and
“holiness” suggesting something sacred.
Does unbridled commerce and the promotion of such serve to make a better world?
Philosophers, as lovers of wisdom, may contribute this to the discussion: that
what serves to make a better world is that which serves to make a better, more
whole human being. For only through whole, healthy people do we make a whole,
healthy world.
