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Alex Chace

Dr. Baran

COM 203-A MWF 9:00 AM

14 December 2017

Paper #14

In the consumerist society we live in today, there is a blurred line between if direct-to-

consumer prescription drug advertisements work for the healthiness of their audiences, or for the

pockets of corporations. As virtually every other country in the world has made stated this

practice to be illegal, it is a telling sign about the willingness of the United States to turn a blind

eye to it. We want to believe that all of our problems can be swept away by the drop of a pill,

regardless of the fact that we are giving unchecked power to drug companies. We allow them to

brainwash us through medication. However, there is a double-edged sword to DTCA, as mass

communication does destigmatize and promote health education through raising awareness. It is

our job as consumers to recognize advertisements beyond face value, and work toward self-

empowerment rather than an outward medicate fix that does nothing to solve our problems.

Lunesta, a sedative prescription medication used to treat insomnia, runs a hypnotic direct-

to-consumer television advertisement that attempts to put its audience into a trance. The

commercial begins with mesmerizing ambient music and the scene of a neighborhood fast

asleep. Out of the sky comes an angelic green-glowing set of wings that gently float into the

window of a home. Upon entering, it soars around a woman who appears restlessly turning in a

dim room. A soft, female narrator then says, “If your racing thoughts keep you awake, sleep is

here on the wings of Lunesta.” The wings then relax onto her shoulders, and she is able to quietly

drift away into sleep.

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As we live in a society where we are overworked to the point of being pushed into

depression and anxiety, many people find it difficult to reach calmness. When it comes time to

go to bed, we are haunted by the stressors of our day. This Lunesta advertisement is beneficial as

it encourages those who struggle with sleep deprivation to contact their healthcare providers to

discuss taking this medication in order to combat this. Sleep is the biggest effector of health, and

deprivation can lead to all around mental and physical unhealthiness. While the importance of

sleep is beyond questionable, Lunesta’s overemphasis of achieving it through taking medication

distracts us from our underlying problems. Ultimately, the medication does nothing but change

the chemicals in our brain to calm us down. The drawback is we are only putting a bandage over

our problems, without ever facing them head on. This is demonstrated through the hypnotic

voice, leading us to believe that we can be relieved by all of our problems through “the wings of

Lunesta.”

The commercial, in its entirety, works to deceive its audience. In just the trance-like

scenery and music alone, we are made to feel sleepy due to the ambiance. As all of us deal with

stress, we see ourselves in the woman who is tossing and turning. The advertisement wants us to

believe that Lunesta can alleviate all of our problems through flying away on the wings of a pill.

The wings move in a way that makes the medication seem like a God-sent, looking to take us

away into peace. However, in reality, what the medication does is hides the anxiety from our

problems, without ever bringing us to face them head on. The advertisements create a culture of

suppression through medication, leading us to believe that our problems can be solved by a pill.

Society has become trapped in a cycle, where as we face more stressors, we take more pills. One

day, we reach a point where we our blindsided by our anxiety. Our problems build up to the

point where they can no longer be hidden, and we are left to face them in a state of mental
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instability. We become so taken over by the chemicals being pumped into our brain that we lose

our sense of self, and are left as an artificial being trying to sort through raw human emotion.

Abilify, a prescription medication used to treat symptoms of psychotic conditions such as

bipolar disorder, uses direct-to-consumer advertising to depict mental illness as a character

separate from the person. In the commercial, depression is personified in as a cartoon character,

starting out as a ball and chain with eyes that is shackled to the ankle of a woman. It then morphs

into a black hole in the ground, encapsulating her in it. Then, the women’s doctor comes along,

and takes her by the hand to pull her out of it. The narrative voice of the women says,

“Depression used to define me. Then my doctor added Abilify to my anti-depressant. Now, I feel

better.” The depression then morphs into a back mass with eyes that sits with the woman, taking

notes with a paper and pencil from the doctor. Eventually, the woman is able to control the

depression, and she is shown as happy with her family on a picnic, while the depression has

shrunk into a very tiny mass. This advertisement for Abilify appears to have many benefits, as it

not only informs and empowers patients who feel helpless about their ability to control their

depression, but it also destigmatizes the issue as it shows many people deal with it.

Personifying depression as a being separate from the person creates an awareness that

mental illness is not what defines those who struggle with it. Like the ball and chain and the hole

shown in the advertisement, they must deal with it like a hindering relationship. What is

informative is the doctor’s ability to pull the women out of the whole. This strengthens patients’

relationships with their clinicians, as they are lead to believe they can be helped by them.

Abilify’s goal is to hope that in turn, the patient will be inspired to go to their perscriber to get

help by using their medication. As the depression shrinks, and the woman is able to enjoy her

life. The advertisement empowers people who struggle as they are lead to feel they can be in
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control of their depression, even in the face of hopelessness. The drawback of this commercial is

Abilify is another medication that works by changing the actions of chemicals in the brain. It

leads patients to believe that their depression can be gone away with the swallow of a pill. While

mental illness is a struggle of chemical imbalance, there is a more wholesome way of dealing

with it. This entails looking inward toward solving the root of the problem, rather than treating

the symptoms.

While direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertisement can be played off to have

benefits of raising awareness about health to a mass audience, the practice is ultimately

unethical. At the end of the day, regardless of how informative an ad may be, what drives the

drug companies is profit. If the drug were to not sell, the company would drop it immediately

without any concern for the well-being of patients who struggle with the particular illness.

Therefore, all advertisement has an underlying agenda, and want to convey a one-sided message,

that is to by their drug. None of them are spending billions for the sake of raising awareness, but

rather, for the sake of raising cash. If we as a society truly care about raising awareness about

health, then we would create more campaigns that have no ulterior motive than to do so. We as

consumers need to pay attention to the source of ads, making ethical judgements as a society. If

there is an opportunity for money to be made, then that is the intention.

As seen in the advertisements, the United States has become a medicated society that

suffers from mental illness such as anxiety, primarily because we push away our problems away

without facing them head on. While medication is beneficial in treatment of mental illness, it

does not magically cure us. We need to recognize the events in our lives that cause us stress, and

look inward rather than outward. By getting to know ourselves and dealing with our lives in the

now, we can work toward true healthiness that is real, not artificial.