This Should Be Illegal

I honestly think that pharmaceutical companies should not be able to advertise their products and, expanding on that, I certainly don't think surgical procedures should be advertised on television.

There is something so dirty about it.

It just doesn't seem safe or ethical to advertise lap band surgery as an alternative to diet and exercise. Surgeries like gastric bypass and now lap band surgeries are too often seen as an "either/or" and not a last resort.

Flashing advertisements for surgeries and medication for things like "restless leg syndrome" caters to hypochondriacs. I also wish I could get through one television show without seeing an old guy tell me how empty his life was before he went on Viagra or Levitra or any of the other 15 ED brands.

There shouldn't be pharmaceutical brand names. Call me socialist or whatever you want, but I don't think health care should be a profit-driven industry. It should be a patient-driven industry where health care should be the top priorty. I know, I'm blowing your mind right now with my crazy ideas.

Sorry for the mini rant, but the Red Sox just lost and are out of the playoffs and then I had to watch another ED commercial and then a lap band commercial back-to-back. Personally, I think the lap band commercial is more disturbing. I mean, it's SURGERY. By the way, that is not the actual commercial I saw, just the one on YouTube I could find.

The commercial I saw had a bunch of sad, fat people complaining and then a normal size person saying she made the decision to take control back and she's so happy now and free and healthy and then all the fat people were like "I'm ready." It made the surgery look like this quick, easy fix and life will be golden afterwards. I seriously think it's unethical and shady. Like wicked shady.