Funny Side Effects May Include Video

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Obi-Wan Takes the High Basis! - The Loop

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U.S. pharmaceutical advertisers face a difficult dilemma. Considering of truth-in-advertising laws, whatsoever commercial giving indications for use of a prescription drug must give total disclosure of side effects.

This ways that drug commercials come in the following three flavors:

• "Healthoxine. Because you're worth information technology." The "reminder" commercial alternates shots of flowered meadows, senior citizens, and doctors, all while proverb generally positive things most zilch in particular and mentioning the name of the drug. This evades both mentioning the side furnishings and what the drug actually does. This type is far less common these days; most commercials that still do this are the ones that give you assist down at that place, because, due to social mores, they can't directly name what their product does anyway. Some of these ads tried to skirt the issue by naming some other drug indicated for the aforementioned thing.
• "Ask your doctor if Happypills are correct for yous." This commercial actually does tell you what the pill is for, and and so spends the rest of the commercial breaking the bad news gently: "If yous have seasonal allergies, Mxyzptlkacine may be right for you lot. Side effects of Mxyzptlkacine are uncommon, and include headache, nausea, vomiting, expiry, dizziness, Vaginal ejaculations, dysentery, cardiac arrhythmia, balmy eye explosions, varicose veins, darkened stool, darkened soul, lycanthropy, trucanthropy, arteriosclerosis, hemorrhoids, diabeetus, virginity, balmy discomfort, vampirism, gender impermanence, spontaneous dental hydroplosion, sugar high, more vomiting, dark-brown, Your Mom, and mild rash."

  And notwithstanding, manifestly fifty-fifty later on all this, enough people still want to get the drug that the cost of advertising is justified.

• "Why live with the heartbreak of psoriasis?" A newer breed of commercial, the "assist seeking" ad doesn't even mention the brand at all. Instead, information technology poses a public service announcement, offering a pamphlet yous can receive — or now, a Web site you tin visit — offering information on treatment options for a certain affliction... "including a prescription treatment pick." This one line is the real reason for the commercial; the pamphlet is an advert for the company'south new drug, and the visitor wants yous to read it since, in print, they're notwithstanding immune to hide the listing of side furnishings in 1-point blazon. This kind of advertizing eventually becomes one for the drug in the pamphlet.

Of course, if you've really talked with your dr. near your problems, then your dr. would already accept told y'all if Stupidoxin was correct for you. But pharmaceutical companies continue to heavily advertise because you lot might have been too embarrassed to mention the problem to your doctor until yous realized there was a treatment for it. Or y'all might non have considered it to exist a trouble at all until you lot saw the commercial with all the other people who were horribly embarrassed by their xanthous toenails/hairy knuckles/insufficiently-lustrous eyelashes/etc, and realized that you needed to go the cure. Or even worse, y'all might have told your doc nearly your problem, merely didn't request Stupidoxin by name, and so your physician prescribed an equally-effective generic brand instead! (Somewhere an ad man is crying.)

Examples include (consult your doctor for more information):

• Havidol is a comic parody of the whole concept. It was created to demonstrate some of the problems with aggressive pharmaceutical advertising campaigns.
• A short arc in the The Boondocks comic strip concerns Granddad's attempts to figure out what the hell a drug commercial ways when it says that its production will help you lot get "Back in the game". When Huey finally tells him, he gets sent to his room.
• At that place is a commercial for a flea medication for dogs that really has a list of side furnishings. By all means, we want Fido to be healthy, but a list of side effects on a commercial like that just feels odd.
• Jeff Foxworthy chimes in: "'For itchy, watery optics, it's Floraflor. Side furnishings may include: nausea, vomiting, water weight gain, lower back pain, receding hairline, eczema, seborrhea, psoriasis, itchy chafing wear, liver spots, blood clots, ringworm, excessive body smell, uneven tire wear, pyorrhea, gonorrhea, diarrhea, halitosis, scoliosis, loss of float command, hammertoe, the shanks, low sperm count, warped floors, chaotic drawers, hunchback, centre attack, depression resale value on your dwelling house, feline leukemia, athlete'south foot, head lice, club human foot, MS, Medico, VD, fleas, anxiety, sleeplessness, drowsiness, poor gas mileage, tooth decay, split ends, parvo, warts, unibrow, lazy eye, fruit flies, chest pains, chock-full drains, hemorrhoids, dry out heaving, and sexual dysfunction.' I'yard thinking I'll merely stick with itchy, watery eyes."
• "Panexa. Ask your doctor for a reason to take it." A hilarious parody of this sort of ads, consummate with an enormous number of Happy Fun Ball-like disclaimers and warnings.
• Unusually for a parody of this trope, Eternazec's side furnishings are logically tied to the primary effect. Oh, except for itchy armpits.

  However, it's an ad for East*Merchandise, spoofing the whole thing by showing the usual meadow shots during the listing, that uses perhaps the all-time champion listing of preposterous side furnishings: "Nozulla may cause the following symptoms: itchy rashes, full torso hair loss, projectile vomiting, gigantic eyeball, the status known as 'hot domestic dog fingers,' children born with the caput of a gilded retriever, seeing the dead, os liquification, possession by the Prince of Darkness, tail growth, elderly pregnancy, back pain...."

• Pure Drivel by Steve Martin contains an essay entitled "Side Effects," which lists the side furnishings for a medication that relieves joint hurting. The side effects first with joint pain and go on for nigh ten pages, including "May cause stigmata in Mexicans." "May cause compulsion to stand up in Cosmic Mass and yell "I'g gonna whup ya wit' da ugly stick!"
• Order of the Stick manages to hide Foreshadowing in such a list.
• The humorous vocal "Pillagers" contains an ad for Liquiflox, a fluid to assist you lot take more than pills. Its side effects include "an urge to buy a house from Ikea" and "death and reincarnation as a slug."
• Flower County had a Sunday comic about the incredible dangers of snorting dandelions, which included spontaneous decapitation and turning into Woody Allen. In the terminal panel, Steve Dallas snorts it anyhow.
• In Opus, the titular penguin takes a medication whose side effects include lactation, so he then gets a medication that prevents that side result, merely then needs one to prevent its side effect, until he has a chain of medications. In the terminal panel, someone points out that, of course, penguins don't accept nipples.
• In Warcraft 3, clicking repeatedly on the Priest unit (the homo side's healer) eventually results in him issuing the following disclaimer: "Side effects may include: Dry mouth, Nausea, Water retentiveness, Painful rectal crawling, Hallucinations, Psychosis, Coma, Death, and Halitosis. Magic is not for everyone, consult your doctor before use."
• This episode of The Non-Adventures of Wonderella, in the 5th panel.
• The Amateur Transplants have a song advertising the fictional wonderdrug 'Paracetamoxyfrusebendroneomycin' (set to the tune of Supacalifrajalisticexpialodocius) which, though capable of curing almost every known disease (too as 'reversing impotence' and making you lot 'good at fighting') has a number of side effects including 'nausea, vomiting and losing all your hair...heart attacks, becoming gay and growing extra breasts'. The song too notes that none of the animals the drug was tested on survived, only it's alright considering they lied in the research paper.
• A joke advertising on J.1000. Rowling'due south website includes the following fine print: "Healer's alarm: side-effects include dizziness, vomiting, and tusks."
• Some sleep medicines list as a side outcome "drowsiness"... others list "insomnia". Remember they got their bases covered at that place.
  • Also watch out, as they might cause yous to "drive while asleep, with amnesia for the consequence".
  • It tin can also make crusade lost weekends. And lost weeks.
• Antidepressants "may increment suicidal thoughts in teens".
• The immortal "Contact your doctor if you receive an erection lasting longer than four hours.":
  • Several thousand comedians' response: "If I have an erection lasting longer than four hours, I'm contacting a hooker!"
  • The song from the quotes page has, among other side effects, "Do not have sex while operating heavy machinery" and "In case of an erection lasting longer than 4 hours, insert your own joke hither."
  • Ane erectile-dysfunction tablet is alert against "delayed backache or muscle anguish". Is this from the drug, or from the intended effect of the drug? "Doctor, I take this pain in my back after the married woman and I go for a contiguous motorbike ride, is it from the Erectrol?"
• From i extreme to the other: some medications for overactive bladder have constipation as a side upshot.
• Recently browsing through causes of airsickness, and spotted i possible disease that ended its list of symptoms with "and the feeling of impending doom."
• Jon Stewart mentioned one drug for restless leg syndrome with the side effect of "increased gambling". He argued that if he had a gambling addiction, he'd take a drug that gave him the "jimmie-legs", rather than the other way effectually.
• All the nasal decongestants that cause nosebleeds. Mucus or claret, the selection is yours! Well, every bit we all know, it's a very good way to remainder out your humours.
• The weight-loss drug Xenical exemplifies the second type of commercial. Its side furnishings included "gas with oily belch, increased bowel movements, an urgent demand to have them, and an inability to command them." Xenical'south over-the-counter version is called Alli, whose listed side-effects are deconstructed here.
• The asthma medication Advair lists equally ane of its side effects an increased chance of Asthma Related Deaths. This is because plenty of people use it too much, causing the body to be overreliant on these drugs.
• Many antipsychotics take sudden expiry listed as a side upshot. It can be sudden cardiac death, or death from choking considering that reflex is suppressed by the drug.
• The slumber aid Ambien lists "slumber-eating" equally one of its side effects. Non listed, but known to accept happened to at to the lowest degree 1 person each, are sleep-painting and slumber-sex activity.
  • In that location is at least once case of someone claiming slumber-robbery as a side issue of Ambien. As in, he was claiming that he robbed a store. In his slumber. And he'due south a police officer.
  • Speaking of slumber-sexual activity, an Australian man got acquitted of rape because the defense claimed he had this status.
  • Sleep-sexual practice is just annoying. Sleep-driving, on the other hand, is terrifying. No wrecks yet, but waking upwardly in a strange place on the road is terrifying.
• Many nascence control pills warn "Practice not take if you lot may go pregnant." Well, almost likely she's taking the pills because she'southward doing things that could cause pregnancy, just that'due south what the pills are for...
• A surprising number of drugs have both weight gain and weight loss listed as possible side-furnishings.
• A common topical antifungal medicine has, as a common side effect, dry, cracked peel. Doesn't sound likewise odd? The major symptom of the fungus it'south supposed to treat is dry, cracked skin. This is the same reason why allergy medications virtually always accept allergy symptoms as a side-event. It'due south a legal outcome to prevent people suing if they're taking the medication for the wrong condition, so it doesn't assist.
• Acutane to treat skin: The list of side-effects include blood-cerise vision; suicidal thoughts & tendencies; and worsening of acne. Acutane worsens acne at first, then information technology gets better. Supposedly, some of the suicidal thoughts come from the fact that your acne is worsening so you lot recollect it's incurable.
• Rheumatoid arthritis medications can potentially result in tuberculosis. RA medications are relatively strong immune system suppressants; the possibility of debilitating secondary infections go upward just similar it would if you lot'd developed AIDS. It goes away once you lot terminate the drugs — merely then your RA would come back. Bummer.
• A recent asthma commercial mentioned that their production "may increase your risk of death." Death past what, they didn't say, but one assumes information technology could be everything from suffocation to explosive decompression, and they're merely keeping their bases covered.
• Mad Goggle box did a skit parodying this, non by concocting a ridiculous list of side effects, but by advertising the party drug MDMA (Ecstacy) equally a Zoloft-like antidepressant. (It'll requite you the serotonin heave yous're looking for, only volition also turn you into Dopamine Boy/Daughter.)
• Sat Dark Live:
  • Had a parody ad, this time for birth control. The voiceover is totally standard, simply the video shows Amy Poehler repeatedly seducing men, women, and groups into her apartment, upwards to an entire wheelchair basketball team.
  • Another skit parodied the usual commercial side effects appear when taking these drugs. It stated that among the side furnishings would include hallucinations, in which it and then described EXACTLY what type of hallucinations y'all would have: a horrifying surrealist nightmare ending in a selection betwixt ii doors. The wrong door leads to hellish misery, but the right ane to eternal joy... and a moist, itch-costless scalp. And possibly mild flatulence.
  • "Jimmy Tango'due south Fatty Busters" has Jim Carrey prancing about an infomercial stage to draw his "Ride the Ophidian" weight-loss method, which involves a combination of a suit of vibrating heat beads and crystal meth, and being extremely up-front end the moment he hears the question about how, yes, it'southward illegal, and yes, in that location are side-effects on the user'south body and listen, and they are diverse. All concerned draw their experiences, but they also lost weight ridiculously quickly. ("Probably too fast!") However, the homo himself claims the principal "side effect" is people not mockingly stuffing messages into his rima oris like a mailbox; he and so writhes a bit, brushes something off and yells, "GET OFF!"
• Teen Titans had a parody of a magical drug, Zinthos, during a Trapped in Television receiver Land episode. Raven usually intones "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos" when using her powers, the commercial advertised Zinthos every bit from the makers of Azarath and Metrion. Some of the effects of this drug mirror her changes when she loses command of her powers: Multiple eyes, agonizing visions, fits of rage (though not bloating, cramping or loss of pilus, thankfully). Information technology also says not to go Zinthos wet, or feed it subsequently midnight, a Shout-Out to the Gremlins movies.
• Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report has a regular segment entitled "Cheating Death with Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, D.F.A." (a reference to his honorary doctorate of fine arts), sponsored by the fictional Prescott Pharmaceuticals, in which he constantly pushes drugs in the "Vaxadrin" family. The drugs have such side effects equally minor heart explosions, vivid dreams of self-cannibalization, growing teeth ("often in the mouth"), spontaneous pregnancy, increased chances of vampire attack, involuntary Narnia adventures, and tracheal meerkat colonies.
• Some adverts (also prevalent in print media) merely state: "Ask your doctor about _________'south story."
• Back in the '80s, when Rogaine was still a prescription drug, tv commercials near it were pretty vague well-nigh what it did, except inasmuch equally it pertained in some manner to an active lifestyle. Absent outside information, the virtually obvious conclusion to reach was that it had something to practice with skiing. Calls to the toll-free number during this era required the the operator to postal service the information. They couldn't give it out on the phone.
• Channel 4 got into a deserved chip of bother from Ofcom for ad erectile dysfunction services earlier the Watershed. The adverts in question resembled a cantankerous between a relaxation tape and a personal loan advert, and it was just the constant utilise of words like "erection" that marked them for what they were.
• Penny Arcade
  • Parodied in this strip.
  • Followed-upwards here, with the success of the treatment being described in typical nerdy fashion.
  • Also this i: "...non recommended for adults, or children interested in becoming adults."
• The Austin Lounge Lizards lampoon these in their song and cartoon "The Drugs I Need" most a fabricated-up drug called "Progenitorivox", whose side furnishings include (in song): "Agitation, Palpitations, excessive salivation, constipation, male lactation, rust-colored urination..."
• Foamy the squirrel quips about this - "Side effects may crusade hallucinations. I'd rather have the runny nose! Fine! I may take some snot on my upper lip, but at least I'm non seeing Elvis in my refrigerator! Dammit!" Also, he has a friend Pilz-Eastward who rambled off a listing of side-effects of all the medication he takes. He finishes off with death, just says "only I take a pill, to cure the death."
• A viral site for the Pixar motion picture WALL-East contains an advertising for Xanadou, a medication to induce shopping euphoria. "Side effects may include unpleasant sense of taste, headache, drowsiness and dizziness, headaches, intestinal discomfort and cramping, temporary blindness, bleeding of the gums. Failure to use Xanadou during shopping specific excursions may result in a desire to habiliment drab wear, redistribute wealth and holding and attend socialist summer camps."
• Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines features a cigarette warning with side furnishings including "jock itch", "alien invasion" and "the death of cute little puppies".
• In a particularly amusing Avatar Abridged episode, Haru advertises a shampoo called Sexyfine that rearranges a person'due south DNA and turns them, well, sexyfine. Side furnishings included headaches, blood clots, dark-green rashes, gonorrhea, albinism, thumb cancer, chocolate cravings, heroin habit, pregnancy, ear mutation, increased risk of cyborg koala attack, the apocalypse, and Zutara. "Uncle, why are all those girls chasing me with shampoo?"
• Robin Williams' routine for Fuckitol: "Fuckitol... for those times when y'all don't want to give a damn..." (Non to be confused with Fucitol.) He also talked about side furnishings, and how one listing included "may cause anal leakage."

"That'southward non a side event, that is an issue. It'southward like, "How you doin', Bob?" - "Oh, but a bit of anal leakage." - "Bob, you wanna become out of the puddle right now?"

• From Dume, "...Gruesome, Screaming, Meaty Death."
• The drug Dylar in Don DeLillo's novel White Noise has a stated result that's pretty weird in itself: eliminating the fear of death. However, its side effects are even stranger: causing the user to confuse words with the things they stand for, resulting in hallucinations. And it doesn't piece of work for its intended purpose anyway.
• Zydrate from Repo! The Genetic Opera. Ask a gentern if Zydrate is right for yous.

Side effects of Zydrate may include arrhythmia, faintness, moderate to astringent amnesia, flushing of the face, dry mouth, blurry vision, visual distortions or white spots, nausea and vomiting, constipation, musculus twitches, confusion, euphoria, sedation, itchiness, and increased feet, Respiratory or cardiac abort, coma, hypoventilation (inadequate ventilation), and possibly death.

• Yasmin. Okay?
• Allow'southward not forget Dulcolax, whose ads contain soothing guitar chords and pictures of...animated women caressing armchairs.
• 1 fanfic ad for viagra lists side effects including "stalker-like tendencies, dead goldfish, swords through your gut and the cease of the world". It features Angel[usa] (of course).
• The side-furnishings list was used in Becker as the chief reason a split up-personality patient didn't take his drugs - the "nice" personality was deathly afraid of the side effects.

Becker: It too says information technology causes irregular periods - are you lot afraid of that too? Jim: Now I am!

• One case of the third are contempo ads on American sports evens for "Is It Depression T?", which doesn't fifty-fifty push button a drug and puts the drug company'southward proper noun in small print near the bottom. It's pretty clear from the ads (and fabricated explicit on their website) that they're promoting their treatment for lowered testosterone in men. The Fridge Logic kicks in, though, when y'all realize that everything that would care for said condition would be either a steroid or a steroid precursor. And they're sponsoring sports (particularly baseball) that have had serious issues trying to terminate steroid use.
• Mahou Sensei Negima did the gag with a forbidden spell designed to render its subject smart for vi days:

Negi: Side effects may include dry rima oris, nausea and loss of almost a million brain cells...

• Parodied in this "The Karnak Hates Everything Bear witness" strip with Monoxyploxium. It doesn't tell you what it does at beginning ("Recently nosotros decided that's none of your damn business"), only that you lot should buy information technology now because "You may very well be suffering from up to vi medical crises of which you know admittedly nothing." Though apparently it keeps your lymph nodes from exploding and spraying relatives with fluids.
• The Insurrection's song "Ass-Breath Killers" is an advert for an anti-asskissing pill.

"The makers of Dr. Misoi's Donkey-Breath Killers are non responsible for corporate losses or topplings of local governments and/or regimes"

• Midol, a medication for the alleviation of menstrual cramps and related symptoms, is marked "Not to exist taken if you lot are taking medication for prostate cancer". Apparently it's useful for addressing other kinds of cramps, too, some of which men are able to get.
• Saw Palmetto is a herbal remedy for enlarged prostate. Apparently "information technology can interfere with the contraceptive pill".
• American Dad: Do you lot sometimes feel irritable, restless, uneasy, sad, normal, or just plain not loftier? Maybe information technology's time to effort crevice!

(Scissure may crusade shivers, dark terrors, gay for pay, heart palpitations, homicidal paranoia, or the sensation that you're on fire. Peeing blood and seeing your friends' faces every bit talking skeletons are possible side effects of crack. People who use crack may experience v-7 years in prison where roughshod raping may occur. If you experience one or more than of these side effects, consult your dealer. Y'all may need more crack.)

• One Benadryl commercial says "What will you miss when you lot have an allergy attack?" Probably the same thing you'll miss when you're sleeping off that Benadryl, as one of the side effects is farthermost sleepiness. As an interesting note, all "PM" versions of medication, like Tylenol PM and Advil PM, incorporate Benadryl because of the sleepiness. It is a unproblematic remedy for dogs who are terrified of thunderstorms: the poor dog is besides drugged and sleepy to be scared.
• An episode of The Simpsons showed Dr. Hibbert in a sexualized commercial for prescription drugs, dancing with sexy ladies in hot pants. "Side effects include shortness of marriage!"

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Side effects of this TV Tropes entry may include Ruining your life, Author Appeal, Gorn, Brontophobia, Brontosaurophobia, and Involuntary Shapeshifting. This Telly Tropes entry is not for children under 12, women who are nursing or meaning, are about to get significant, accept been meaning before, are trying to become pregnant while reading this entry, pregnant nurses or people with gall bladders. Prolonged use may result in over-extending humourous situations to the point where they are no longer agreeable or the ensuing of hilarity.

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Source: https://tropedia.fandom.com/wiki/Side_Effects_Include

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