Tag: Adverts

This piece is a result of a couple of pieces that I have written before and some interaction in comments on pieces from others about prescription drugs advertisements.  They are rife in the popular culture these days, on TeeVee, on radio, and in print.  I really think that this is a horrible idea, and will explain as time progresses.

First, I must do a bit of historical treatment.  When I was in pharmacy school (I did not stay long, because I decided that I should be on the other side of the wall, developing new drugs, but that did not work out either) adverts for prescription drugs were only allowed in professional medical journals.  I mean it.

Those you 50 or older will probably, if you think hard enough about it, days when these drugs were not in the popular media.  Some of you might also recall that tobacco adverts were!  I still remember the jingles for cigars and cigarettes.

This is designed to be a companion piece to a new Pique the Geek installment of the same title that will be published Sunday.  The idea for this dual treatment of gold was inspired by our good friend and supporter from the other two sites to which I contribute, ek hornbeck.

This half of the couple has to do with gold in a nontechnical sense.  The one on Sunday gets, obviously, much more Geeky.  However, technical uses aside, gold has been part of the popular culture since prehistory.  Only recently have truly technical uses for gold been found, and those will be covered elsewhere.

Tonight we shall look at some of the history of gold in popular culture, and finish with a discussion of the so-called gold standard and the numerous sales pitches that dominate the conservative airwaves.  We shall try not to get too Geeky.

Some adverts are funny and welcome.  The classic Where’s the Beef? one is wonderful.  So was Speedy Relief from Alka-Seltzer, recently renewed.  There are lots a good ones, but there are many more bad ones.

The ones that TBS and Fox run are often poor, but not always always offensive.  I have found an offensive series.  It is from Kraft foods, and is the epitome of the stupid father and the snotty nosed child.

There seem to be more adverts on the TeeVee than content.  I guess that is why it only costs from $20 to $50 a month for “free” TeeVee.

Some adverts are amusing, some are less than amusing, and some are just insulting.  Please keep with me as I look at a few that I find in each category.