In 1997, the Food and Drug Administration relaxed its restrictions on direct-to-consumer marketing of pharmaceuticals. Prior to this ruling, drug manufacturers were prohibited from mentioning both the name of the drug and its indications in consumer-directed advertisements without also including a large amount of technical information about the drug, including all known side effects, contraindications, and dosage recommendations (Stevens, 1998). In addition to interfering with the appeal of the advertisements, such requirements rendered broadcast ads infeasible due to time constraints, and hindered ads in print media due to cost and space availability. These requirements were abolished in the 1997 FDA policy changes, and pharmaceutical companies were permitted to market drugs by name as treatments for specific conditions, with the minimal requirement that ads give mention to major risks identified in clinical trials (Melillo, 2001). As a result, manufacturer expenditures on direct-to-consumer advertising, which totaled $791 million in 1996, rose to $2.6 billion for the year 2000 (Mitchell, 2001). Television, radio, and print media became saturated with ads promoting treatments for conditions ranging from depression to high cholesterol. Names such as Zoloft, Claritin, and Lipitor, which were previously known mostly to health professionals, quickly became part of the national vocabulary. Consequently, spending on prescription drugs has increased significantly over the past several years as consumers are enticed to seek advertised medications (HealthBizNews.com, 2001).
This new face of drug marketing has sparked a raging debate about the accompanying e…
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…e of drug advertising?” Business Week. May 22, 2000. p52.
Melillo, Wendy. “Direct-to-Consumer Drug Advertising Under Fire Senate to Determine if Such Work Hikes Prescription Costs.” Adweek. May 21, 2001.
Mitchell, Steve. “Drug advertising raises concerns.” www.msnbc.com. 2001. Miller, Susan. “Rx view: DTC Ads Provide the Right Prescription.” Brandweek. June 2 29, 1998.
“Selling Drugs.” American Demographics. January, 1998. p. 26.
Shapiro, Joseph and S. Schultz. “Prescriptions: How your doctor makes the choice.” US News and World Report. February 19, 2001. p. 58.
Stevens, Tim. “To Your Health.” Industry Week. September 7, 1998. p. 56. “Subcommittee Hears Debate on Cosumer Drug Advertising.” www.healthbiznews.com. 2000.
Tanner, Lindsey. “Health and Science: Doctors propose ban on drug advertising.” Nando Times. www.nando.net. June 18, 2001.
The Fate of Women in The Birthmark
The Fate of Women in “The Birthmark”
Wilson Sullivan in “Nathaniel Hawthorne” in New England Men of Letters states that Nathaniel Hawthorne’s tale, “The Birthmark,” depicts the efforts “of a deranged scientist to obtain total perfection” in his wife by removal of a facial blemish. In this story the scientist operates on the superficial level of the physical world, while the woman, the truly heroic woman, functions on the level of the heart and soul, the more significant level. She it is who in her virtue provides for the reader an example to live by, even though she loses her life in the process. This essay hopes to explore the status, role, attitude toward women and other such issues.
Alfred Kazin in the Introduction to Selected Short Stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne comments regarding the central idea in the author’s short stories: “In story after story the given element, the central and unifying element, is what moves and stirs within us, the mysterious springs of our every action, our “soul”(Kazin 14). The secret to understanding the role and concept of women in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s tale, “The Birthmark” lies in the reader’s appreciation of Kazin’s statement above. The woman who sets a shining example for the reader is a specialist in soul development, whereas her counterpart, the male scientist, is a scientist of the physical world only. Another literary critic, in “Hawthorne’s Use of Mythology,” relates his similar interpretation of the essence of Hawthorne’s stories: “Everything he has to say is related, finally, to ‘that inward sphere.’ For the heart is the meeting-place of all the forces – spiritual and physical, light and dark, that compete for dominance in man’s nature. . . .” (McPherson …
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…horne – A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.
McPherson, Hugo. “Hawthorne’s Use of Mythology.” In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996.
Stewart, Randall. “Hawthorne’s Female Characters.” In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996.
Sullivan, Wilson. “Nathaniel Hawthorne.” In New England Men of Letters. New York: Macmillan Co., 1972.
Swisher, Clarice. “Nathaniel Hawthorne: a Biography.” In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996.
Williams, Stanley T. “Hawthorne’s Puritan Mind.” In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996.