Do They Really Think We Are This Stupid?

Do the pharmaceutical companies really think we are this stupid?

And who is this cute little drawing really targeting, anyway? I mean, honestly, odds are if I am clueless on the proper way to pop a pill out of its foil housing and swallow it, I most likely do not have the best reading comprehension. The drawing really is not even helping the illiterate members of society, if they did what was shown in the picture they would be standing around for days with their mouths wide open, holding a pink jellybean about 3 inches away from their face, waiting for the medicine to somehow seep into their body through osmosis.

And why is it a woman in the picture? Granted, the picture was taken from the packaging of a yeast infection medication, but since when are yeast infections a women-only issue?! I cringe at what I just said, as it sounds like I am walking the tightrope above some sort of feminist agenda, but this is just downright offensive! They might as well put in large print – WE KNOW ALL YOU WOMEN OUT THERE MAY BE CONFUSED WHERE THIS PILL GOES – IT DOES NOT GO IN YOUR VAGINA, IT GOES IN YOUR MOUTH. (As if I did not already know that from the friendly disclaimer printed on the front of the packaging that reads “The easy ORAL cure for most vaginal yeast infections”)

Men get yeast infections too, but I bet their cute little packages do not come with an illustration showing a man trying to put a pill in the top of his wiener with a big X over it, followed by the instructions for proper use.

Thank you IVAX (the manufacturer of this generic product) for making sure I did not place this pill in the wrong orifice. It is my usual practice, when I receive new medications, to just simply shove them in the closest opening, whether it be my eye, ear, nose or bottom, but your informative illustration on how to properly ingest medication saved me a lot of trouble. My only complaint is that we really need to get more diversity in package inserts, in the future I would like to see more races involved in the patient education process – I think we are all pretty fed up with the typical albino female with white skin and transparent hair.