CanWest challenges drug ad ban
CanWest Global Comunications is going to court to challenge restrictions on its right to carry prescription drug advertising. It filed and application in Ontario Superior Court, saying the laws governing drug advertisements offend charter rights, threaten freedom of expression in Canada and are unjustifiable "in a free and democratic society."
The Canadian magazine industry has for years been lobbying to have the rules relaxed. The restrictions prohibit mentioning the names of drugs or the illnesses for which they are intended, in the same advertisement. South of the border, publishers are free to do so. (To add insult, many U.S. magazines are exported to Canada with the ads intact.)
(In an earlier item we reported on a study by the Health Council of Canada that takes the exact opposite viewpoint.)
The CanWest court action, while probably encouraged by other media, is being undertaken solely by the company.
The Canadian magazine industry has for years been lobbying to have the rules relaxed. The restrictions prohibit mentioning the names of drugs or the illnesses for which they are intended, in the same advertisement. South of the border, publishers are free to do so. (To add insult, many U.S. magazines are exported to Canada with the ads intact.)
(In an earlier item we reported on a study by the Health Council of Canada that takes the exact opposite viewpoint.)
The CanWest court action, while probably encouraged by other media, is being undertaken solely by the company.
posted by D. B. Scott at
7:20 pm
2 Comments:
Blimey. Anything to make a buck, eh? The drug ads in US pubs are outright scary, not something we publisher types should be emulating, just because there's a buck to be made.
C'mon folks, let's keep out the US mags that won't conform to our rules, rather than racing to the bottom of The Tacky And Offensive Barrel.
Well, most of the DTC drug ads I've seen are of the "create demand" variety, rather than the "address a real need" variety, which is what I personally find scary.
We all know it's very easy to self-diagnose (we all do it: "That listless feeling I've had lately, could it be diabetes?" or whatever). I just don't think it's a good idea for us to encourage that tendency any more than necessary.
This month's Toronto Life has an interesting cover story from a doctor, and one of the things he reminds us is that, when visiting our doctor, we should simply explain what our symptoms are. We should not go in there saying "gee, y'know I think I've got X disease", much less "I therefore suggest that you prescribe X medication for me". If the patient prejudices the doctor to be thinking along a certain line, rather than using the diagnostic tools they spent several years learning about, then who's to blame when the doctor doesn't diagnose the situation correctly?
It certainly seems to be I've heard enough tales from friends and acquaintances about doctors not finding their "true" malady. Diagnosis is, from what I can tell, the hardest part of doctoring. Do we want to be encouraging more of our own amateur hypochondriacal tendencies? It's a natural human reaction already ... it doesn't need assistance from self-interested drug companies.
And what's wrong with kneejerk Yank-bashing, anyway? [grin]
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