Big Pharma TV Ads Must Go

Have you noticed lately that much of the legacy media coverage of Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is once again using phrases like “anti-vaxx,” “conspiracy theorist,” and spreader of “misinformation.”

It is almost as if the same people wrote these articles.

In a way, they are.

A recent ABC post described Kennedy as a peddler of vaccine skepticism throughout his career. Before becoming health secretary, “America’s Network” tells its dwindling audience, Kennedy falsely called the COVID-19 vaccine the "deadliest vaccine ever made."

Drawing on newly-released research from Japan, Dr. John Campbell tells us that Kennedy was not being hyperbolic.

But you will not see news of that Japanese research on mainstream media here in the United States. I guarantee you our mainstream media won’t touch the Japanese research.

This is just one case in point illustrating how U.S. television news content is controlled by Big Pharma.

On CNN, and other networks, we are reminded – with zero attempt to disguise it – that ‘today’s’ news program is “brought to you by Pfizer.” CNN, and all fourteen of its viewers, are kept afloat by Albert Bourla and the crew at Pfizer.

In this article by CNN Business, the once moderately relevant news outlet, admits that “disincentivizing direct-to-consumer drug ads would harm traditional broadcasters and cable companies. News broadcasters have struggled for years as digital platforms, including social media platforms and streaming giants, have peeled away their ad income.”

How pervasive is Big Pharma’s control of legacy media?

According to the Detroit News, “Big Pharma spent $10.8 billion in 2024 on direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising in total, according to a report from the advertising data firm Media Radar…AbbVie Inc. and Pfizer Inc. were particularly big spenders.”

All that money buys influence – lots of influence.

Since Secretary Kennedy wants to reign in that influence, Big Pharma wants everyone in America to hate Kennedy. They want you to yell out the windows that you’re mad as hell and won't tolerate him any longer.

Big Pharma does not need to tell its media sock puppets what to write. They know the script and the entire playbook. Dust off the “anti-vaxx” rhetoric, which for a moment was softened to “sceptic.” Now bring back “spreader of misinformation.” Slam dunk. The man is crazy. He’s a danger to families. He’s a danger to democracy, to the health of the nation. We must protect our country, our children. A slur against Bobby is a vote for rationality, dignity, what is right for America!

Meanwhile, back at the ‘news’ stations, we get disembodied walking bladders (which I find rather ghoulish); attractive young ladies singing to us about their allergy medications; and diabetes medications presented by Broadway-like dance routines flowing right into ABC World News Tonight with David Muir.

The presence of direct-to-consumer advertising has even been satirized on Saturday Night Live. And yet it lives on.

What is the result of all this far-flung pharma cash?

You might recall that Merck had a drug named Vioxx that got pulled from the market because it killed a lot of people. An estimated half a million Americans died and nobody noticed.

I spent a good amount of time looking for legacy media coverage of the Vioxx calamity and hardly found any coverage. Not big enough news for them? Won’t attract enough eyeballs and clicks?

Not one journalist at CNN, ABC, NBC, or CBS took on the story. I did find a press release about Merck “resolving” a seven-year investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s office and “voluntarily” taking Vioxx off the market.

Empathetic folks, no?

Which brings us back to the media. Where have all our investigative journalists gone?

The public needed to know about Vioxx but were left in the dark.

And, in my opinion, the public is hungry for news from sources they can trust. That is why the public is going to independent sources, to podcasts and X, and leaving the legacy media and its Big Pharma ads behind.

The public wants investigative journalists to do their jobs. We want the people who dig in, ask tough questions, meet with whistleblowers in dark DC parking lots late at night, and climb over each other to get the scoop and tell the story. We want people with fire in their bellies, like the fictional character Hildy Johnson, played inimitably by Rosalind Russell in the classic Hollywood film, “His Girl Friday.”

Direct-to-consumer advertising results in suppressing journalism and denying Americans vital information. And, as we have seen over the past few years, suppressing journalism means censorship.

This is why direct-to-consumer advertising needs to be stopped. The U.S. and New Zealand are the only countries that allow it. The rest of the planet knows better.

“The United States needs to follow the rest of the world’s common-sense approach and ban pharmaceutical ads,” said Tony Lyons, president of our parent entity, MAHA Action. “This is the only way to free our media from the death grip of Big Pharma. Doing it may well lead to a rebirth of investigative journalism, unleashing thousands of journalists to start doing their jobs, and start holding Big Pharma accountable.”

What would the folks at CNN, ABC, and other news outlets do if they suddenly lost Big Pharma advertising?

They might just have to bring back the news.