Tom, Brooke, pick up drug advertising slack

With pharmaceutical companies evaluating their advertising, it's becoming more and more difficult to get solid information on how to stay properly medicated. Good for Tom Cruise and Brooke Shields for picking up some of the slack. The celebrity spat over use of prescription drugs has reached the Op-Ed page of The New York Times, where Shields today goes all Oprah with the tale of her battle with post-partum depression (headline: "War of Words." Cruise wins, even under attack!). Such illnesses are no question a serious deal, but anyone who pays much attention to celebrities or advertising when dealing with them is a fool. That's especially important to remember with the holiday weekend upon us and the inevitable onslaught of "social anxiety disorder," a malady suffered by many but understood as something serious by few until advertising cleared up the picture. If picnics find you standing in a dark corner of the house, unable to join the festivities outside, see a doctor. Or at least your local bartender.

—Posted by Trevor Jensen

July 1, 2005 | Permalink