“Ask your doctor about cognac.”

I saw this ad in some paper:

Comment utiliser la puissance de la prière à des fins médicinales 4,99 $

That's just a bit confusing. You so often see ads for medicines that this almost sneaks into that category. It's odd because although products like abilify and so on have verifiable, chemical effects, they appear to be marketed rather like charms and philtres. Actual, useful drugs don't get that treatment. There aren't ads saying, “Ask your dentist about novocaine”. Doctors generally know what they're doing, in their rough, unschooled way, and it probably doesn't pay to get all up in their grill about what they think they're up to. That would be where the prayer comes in.

The illustration at right is from Louis Malle's Le feu follet (1963). A portion on Youtube can be seen here.

Labels: Drugs and Happiness