Ethics in Advertising and Marketing - Manipulative Ads for Prescription Drugs

I think that the growing number of manipulative ads for prescription drugs shows a really dangerous trend in the US. Almost all of the ads list several symtomps that are applicable not only to the medical condition that the advertised drug promises to fight. Most of the symptoms are very generalized and they could apply to several other medical conditions or even be harmless. However, the way that for example some of the TV spots promoting prescription drugs are constructed, almost every one of us is able to apply at least one of the described symptoms to themselves. The voice of the speaker, which is always very serious and emphatic, as well as the music highly affect people's reactions to the TV commercials as well. As a result, people's inherent anxieties are intensified and they start to persuade themselves of being desperately ill. In my opinion it is very unethical to take advantage of people's natural anxieties in this way and it is especially wrong to support this kind of manipulative advertising by 'actual doctor's statements' or 'clinical studies' that sometimes are not even reliable. In Germany, it is forbidden by law to publish TV commericals or other ads that promote any kinds of drugs. I think this is a good thing, because being able to show advertisements for prescription drugs can lead to untruthful and deceptive advertising and an overreacting audience culminating in a society of hypochondriacs.