Heroin was initially marketed as a non-addictive version of morphine. It was challenged by experts on the spot. But Bayer promoted it in ads as a remedy against cough and cold for children regardless. [1] In some sense they weren't first to come up with the idea - TIL ancient Egyptians used opium to stop children crying. [2]
Anyway, IMO the real wtf is drug companies being allowed to advertise prescription drugs in the US. A few lines into the article I eventually assumed Vicodin was an opioid-based painkiller; whereas I'd gather many a NYT reader would be familiar with the name. I find it unfortunate that the author doesn't connect the dots and spell out the conditioning of consumers through pharmaceutical ads.
Anyway, IMO the real wtf is drug companies being allowed to advertise prescription drugs in the US. A few lines into the article I eventually assumed Vicodin was an opioid-based painkiller; whereas I'd gather many a NYT reader would be familiar with the name. I find it unfortunate that the author doesn't connect the dots and spell out the conditioning of consumers through pharmaceutical ads.
[1]: http://www.cbgnetwork.org/4148.html [2]: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/28/opioids-the-...