Psychedelica in Medical Advertising

This is from a site on Medscape, Infosite.  It is a multimedia
program about href="http://scienceblogs.com/corpuscallosum/2006/10/update_on_nrp104_less_potentia.php">Vyvanse®
(lisdexamfetamine dimesylate), a long-acting amphetamine.  The
video is positively mind-blowing:

i-809b28f25a41ce723b8d15957d93f831-vyvanse-1.JPG

This shows a person who is about to take a Vyvanse capsule.
 Next we see the capsule going down the esophagus.


i-4763219af51caff94e5a93cefd4e259e-vyvanse-2.JPG

Pretty much everything in the educational material has
already been covered here and elsewhere ( href="http://carlatpsychiatry.blogspot.com/2007/07/vyvanse-watch.html">1
href="http://richardgpettymd.blogs.com/my_weblog/2007/05/vyvanse.html">2),
so there is no reason to go to the site if you actually want to learn
anything.  But href="http://www.medscape.com/infosite/vyvanse/article-2?src=0_nl_sm_0">the
video is pretty cool, even if it is a sort of propaganda.



I don't mean to disparage the product, or even the company
that makes it.  There are a lot of products out there for the
treatment of ADHD.  The patented ones are competing against
several relatively inexpensive off-patent ones.  Plus, it is
hard to get a doctor's attention.  So even though I sometimes
poke fun at these kinds of marketing efforts, I do understand why they
do it.



I would hope, though, that prescribing decisions would be made on the
basis of something a little more scientific than "who has the flashiest
advertisement."



In general, it makes sense to start with the inexpensive drugs first,
unless there is a specific reason to do otherwise.  



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Your reaction is everything a marketer could hope for, right down to the caveat concerning prescribing decisions. Flashy graphics attracted your attention, rendering the commercial memorable and motivating you to associate the video with the product brand name. Despite not learning anything new or scientific, your sense of "cool" has been stimulated thereby reinforcing the sales pitch, and increasing, if ever so slightly, the probability that you'll prescribe Vyvanse when the appropriate patient comes your way. Last but not least, you posted the video and your comments, thereby increasing the "reach" and frequency of the promotion.

"Cool" is viral in its effects, and for some, no sense of science can provide a defense.

Well, that's the explanation a marketer could hope for--that we are all defenseless against such brilliant memes--but however "cool" and "viral" it may be, I just think that the trivialization of science and medicine represented by such ads builds up a fair amount of resentment out there. Such marketing makes both producers and consumers look like idiots.