Abbvie Commercial?

[Mc1123]

Anyone else see the recent Abbvie commercial recently aired on TV. If not you can see it here...thereforthem.com. Does anyone else with Crohn’s or UC find this offensive and/or highly depressing? I wanted to go jump off a bridge after seeing this. I could not help but reflect on instances in my life where things similar to the commercial had occurred and how their drug didn’t help. As a patient who has used their famous drug Humira and had nothing but issues with the drug, I find it offensive. Is Abbvie suggesting in their commercial that we aren’t there for our kids due to our disease?

Can someone please share their thoughts. I may be crazy and I can accept that answer. I just can’t understand what is the benefit of this type of commercial unless Abbvie was hoping people were going to off themselves after seeing it.

 

[Darkblue]

I get what you are saying and yes, they are suggesting that we aren't there for our kids due to disease. Because sometimes...I'm not in the sense they are talking about. I agree there are times when I have to sleep all day bc I was up with pain all night or times when I don't have energy to go places, etc. It happens. But then I think about my child seeing me in the hospital and think maybe it was a learning experience for him. Or that he is learning compassion and to be more caring. Or learning that my husband helps me when I'm sick and not everyone feels great 100% of the time. And that's ok.

As for the commercial, the part I thought was dumb was the text....do you realize that something is missing...you. Yeah, no ****. I was in the bathroom for 3 hours. However, I have never forgotten my son at school. Lol.

 

[Mc1123]

Thanks for your reply. I really think Abbvie owes us an apology but I’m not holding my breath. They should make the UC and Crohn’s commercial ads a little more uplifting and show the upside to ones life with UC and Crohn’s. They are a multi billion dollar company and this is the garbage they come up with. I want to jump off a bridge every time I see one of these commercials. This particular one has irked me the most so far.

 

[crohnsinct]

Frankly, I haven't see an IBD commercial done well. I don't have IBD but my 18 year old daughter does and believe me she does anything and everything in her power to not miss things and she most definitely realizes when she is letting someone down because she has to be in the bathroom 18 times a day.

The "you may not realize" is beyond ridiculous!

She is funny...she used to remark about a commercial years ago where the IBD sufferer was casually looking for a bathroom. She would say A) Crohn's isn't just a bathroom disease and B) When I need a bathroom I never casually look around...it is an all out, panicky sprint!

 

[erk]

Is this in America?
We don't get adverts like this at all in the UK, the only stuff you'd see in an advert are things like cough medicine, mild painkillers for headaches, nothing you would need a prescription for.
In a previous line of work I had to watch NASCAR, honestly some of the advertisements for serious medication were absolutely shocking to me. All side effects are reeled off in a happy, casual manner while watching people at a BBQ or something, it's absolutely bizarre, I can imagine adverts for humira being equally dreadful.

 

[Scipio]

Yes, it's in America. The US is one of I think only two countries (New Zealand being the other so I'm told) in the advanced western world where drug companies are allowed to market and advertise their prescription drugs directly to the public.

Years ago we used to see ads for such medicines only in medical journals and the like, nothing on TV or in popular magazines. But then the law was changed (either by congress or the courts; I don't remember which) to allow them to advertise directly to patients.

One interesting effect of this is when the TV ad spokesperson at the end of the commercial quickly reads this long, horrible-sounding list of possible side effects. That I believe is required by the FDA to be included in all ads for drugs - to state all possible side effects no matter how rare. I think that might sometimes scare more people away from the drug than are attracted to it by the ad in the first place.