dvertisements are designed to manipulate the average viewer, and the average viewer knows little about drugs and medication. Most of these commercials manipulate the viewer to think that if they take the advertised medication, they will begin to feel better. An example of this is a recent commercial for the anti-depressant, Zoloft. The advertisement starts out with a lonely and depressed blob with a bird that is just following behind and not flying. Then the commercial leads into how Zoloft targets the chemical imbalance and in turn fixes the depression that one is suffering. After taking Zoloft the depressed blob is suddenly happy again, and his world goes from dark and gloomy to sunny and happy, and the bird follows him in flight once again. Concluding the commercial, a voice is speaking with the quick and inaudible voice telling the viewers the side effects, and follows with the words, "Ask your doctor if Zoloft is right for you."
             What is misunderstood is that drug companies feed all of these commercials to the public not to educate people, but to drive sales. "In 2005, $4.2 billion was spent on DTC advertising (the United S
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