I imagine many of you live in cities and are occasionally hit with an HIV med billboard. I've always found this very strange. I remember years ago standing on a corner near where I work and looking at an HIV billboard and thinking, 'God, I hope that never happens to me'. Now I always stand on that same corner and think about that memory. Anyway, I see these ads all the time. They were very troublesome to me while I was waiting for my diagnosis. Now I don't really care. I mostly wonder why they're there. One pops up on the corner 3 buildings up from me all the time. Currently Magic Johnson is all over the buses in Chicago for Kaletra. In fact many are directed at African Americans. I have to assume they're trying to capitalize on the current rise in the African American community in HIV infection...get them on IL ADAP (which I understand is better than most states) and make money. It just always seems strange to me when I see them.
But I had a weird moment the other day where I thought how strange the ad was and then a few seconds later I thought, 'oh yeah, I have HIV'. I guess I must be doing better since it was a (albeit quick) second thought.
Your thoughts?
brian
allopathicholistic:
Hi Brian. I've seen big Truvada ads in the NYC subway system. I assume they're there for poz folks to engage their doctors --as in "Hey doc, what's this Truvada? Do you think it's good for me?"
I must admit, when I saw a 6-foot ad for HIV medication for the first time, I had the same reflex sentiment as you. Now I'm like yeah okay whatever
Matty the Damned:
It's illegal to advertise any prescription medications to the general public in Australia. I only see such ads on the internet.
MtD
jkinatl2:
I share the curiosity that another poster mentioned in a similar thread. As these are prescription drugs, how much of a deciding vote does the consumer really have? If, say, Kaletra is appropriate for a person's HIV infection, as determined by resistance/genotype testing and the like, then I can't imagine a doctor "selling" the patient Sustiva instead. Maybe I am more naive than I thought.
joemutt:
No ads for meds here in Thailand. Enough infected people but not enough buying power. If we did they would go something like: "Ask your doctor for AZT" "Eternal Youth with Crixivan" "Viramune, the breakfast of Champions" :-\