text: do you remember when (and why?!) it became common practice to advertise for drugs on tv?   it's called direct-to-consumer advertising and it started in 2000. it has been estimated that for the 25 biggest drug companies advertising on tv for every $1 spent in advertising they rake in $4.20 in drug sales...that's a pretty nice profit. it is directly responsible for 12% of the increase in drug sales (2.6 billion)  what makes me laugh about the whole thing is half the time they don't actually tell you what a particular drug is prescribed for..then they tell you to call and ask your doctor if it is right for you... can you imagine actually doing that? hey doc, should i take #$%^&*?....imagine if you are a woman and it's for ed!  boy, would i feel like an idiot....  the second thing about it is they always list all the complications and side effects that could arise from taking the medication..talk about a turn-off....most of the time i'm sitting there thinking i might just prefer to stay sick  if this stuff could potentially blind me for life, give me a heart attack, or leave me sitting on the toilet for most of the day..(at least..it's a good thing for truth in advertising though)..  i think in general the drugs that are advertised are sending pretty good messages...it probably helps people with depression, ed and cholesterol problems to realize that they aren't alone and that there are ways to fix their problems...i'll tell you what though..if that bob guy loses his swimming trunks just once more on tv in the middle of the day..i'm going to have to call some kind of ethics committee..tee hee  hope this helped