Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Wants to Ban Drug Ads on TV. It Wouldn’t Be Easy.

By Free Republic | Created at 2024-12-23 17:09:33 | Updated at 2024-12-23 22:58:00 5 hours ago

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Wants to Ban Drug Ads on TV. It Wouldn’t Be Easy.
The New York Times ^ | Dec. 23, 2024, 5:00 a.m. ET | Rebecca Robbins

Posted on 12/23/2024 9:02:39 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum

Since the late 1990s, drug companies have spent tens of billions of dollars on television ads, drumming up demand for their products with cheerful jingles and scenes of dancing patients.

Now, some people up for top jobs in the incoming Trump administration are attacking such ads, setting up a clash with a powerful industry that has long had the courts on its side.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choice for health secretary, is a longtime critic of pharmaceutical advertising on TV, arguing that it leads broadcasters to more favorable coverage of the industry and does not improve Americans’ health. He has repeatedly and enthusiastically called for a ban on such ads.

Elon Musk, who is spearheading a government cost-cutting effort, last month wrote on X, his social-media site, “No advertising for pharma.”

And Brendan Carr, Mr. Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Communications Commission, said that his agency could enforce any ban that is enacted. “I think we’re way, way too overmedicated as a country,” he said.

The push against TV drug ads threatens to dent the revenues of pharmaceutical companies, which can make back in sales five times as much as they spend on commercials, according to some analysts. It could also create uncertainty for major television networks, which bring in substantial revenue from pharmaceutical advertisers trying to reach older viewers, who tend to take more medications.

Though it’s not clear how such a ban might happen — Mr. Kennedy has called for an executive order — any attempt would face an uphill battle. Efforts to modestly restrict drug ads have repeatedly been defeated in the courts, often on First Amendment grounds. The first Trump administration tried to require...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...

TOPICS: Humor
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No other country allows drug companies to advertise their poisons on television.

90% of the corporate gaslight "news" media revenue is "Brought to you by Pfizer," which is why the corporate gaslight "news" media never has any bad news about Pfizer or the rest of the pharmaceutical industry.

To: E. Pluribus Unum

2 posted on 12/23/2024 9:04:23 AM PST by blackdog ((Z28.310) Be careful what you say. Your refrigerator may be listening & reporting you.)

To: E. Pluribus Unum

Companies aren’t citizens, so they should not have full citizen rights.

The US citizen owners could say stuff, however.

3 posted on 12/23/2024 9:04:51 AM PST by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)

To: E. Pluribus Unum

75% of news media ad revenues come from big pharmacy companies. Got it?

4 posted on 12/23/2024 9:05:48 AM PST by blackdog ((Z28.310) Be careful what you say. Your refrigerator may be listening & reporting you.)

To: E. Pluribus Unum

Didn’t congress pass legislation some years ago to get rid of those ads? Whatever happened with that?

They’re some of the worst ads on TV ... and half of each of those ads is spent listing side effects.

5 posted on 12/23/2024 9:06:54 AM PST by al_c (Democrats: Party over Common Sense)

To: E. Pluribus Unum

Watching our news has terrible side effects.

6 posted on 12/23/2024 9:06:54 AM PST by blackdog ((Z28.310) Be careful what you say. Your refrigerator may be listening & reporting you.)

To: E. Pluribus Unum

Most of these ads tell you the reasons the drug will likely kill you.

7 posted on 12/23/2024 9:09:00 AM PST by Sacajaweau

To: E. Pluribus Unum

I would LOVE that. Some hour-long shows’ ads make up about 50% of all the commercials. I, for one, resent shelling out $1K for a drug while these ultra glitzy and expensive ads are in my face all the time.

8 posted on 12/23/2024 9:09:02 AM PST by MayflowerMadam (It's hard not to celebrate the fall of bad people. - Bongino)

To: E. Pluribus Unum

I want them banned too. I hate the ads because they are not selling them to viewers because we can’t buy or get them with a doctor’s prescription.. Big Pharma is just paying for good reporting on their poisons. That is the only reason for these ads.

9 posted on 12/23/2024 9:09:18 AM PST by dforest

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