© 2025 Kansas City Public Radio
NPR in Kansas City
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

How Drug Ads Try To Make You Remember The Good, Forget The Bad

It’s rare to watch television these days and not see an ad for some kind of prescription drug: Viagra, Cialis, Zoloft, Prozac, Nasonex, Spiriva, the list goes on. Always, those ads include a rattling off of potentially dangerous side effects, something drug companies are required by law to include.

Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson talks with Megan Thielking, a reporter with the national health and medicine publication STAT, about the different strategies those companies – and the voice actors they hire – use to distract you from those negative side effects, or make them harder to process.

Guest

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Congress just eliminated federal funding for KCUR, but public radio is for the people.

Your support has always made KCUR's work possible — from reporting that keeps officials accountable, to storytelling to connects our community. Help ensure the future of local journalism.