November 15, 2011   I’m sure you’ve noticed those TV ads for pharmaceutical products that include an incredibly long list of side effects and possible hazards recited by a cheerful voice as men and women are shown living the happy lives made possible by a drug that can inflict on them everything from bloating and joint pain to death. This combination of positive and negative communications is mandated by the government requirement that drug manufacturers must disclose all the risk factors attending the product they are hawking. The result is what one might call the “battle of information.” The drug companies are providing information about the benefits of their product, and under duress (it would not be their choice to do this) they are also providing information about the dangers of that same product. It is their hope that the positive message will have more impact than the negative one, and that hope is supported by the fact that they get to tell their happy story in images (look what this drug can do for you), while the other, distressing story (hear what this drug can do to you) is conveyed by words. The companies are counting on the fact that not all information-delivery systems are equal and, as the old proverb goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.

For More Information:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/the-tobacco-horror-show/