Well, it is not like you need any more good things about digital video recorders – they are already awesome. However, every once in a while I am "stuck" watching live TV and I am stuck watching a commercial for pharmaceuticals. I don’t know which is more distasteful – the fluffy commercial part or the evil disclosure part.

I think the negative parts dominate the ad, and given the affect heuristic and framing effect I have to believe this information will loom large in the minds of potential users. Now, I happen to believe we are over-drugged as a society, but every once in a while I also assume this stuff works . That being the case, I am stuck wondering about the net effect of these disclosures.

On the positive side, folks will know what they are dealing with and given how obnoxious these disclosures are, it seems unlikely that folks could justify a lawsuit if they experience side effects. So pharmaceutical companies benefit. On the other hand, I suspect these disclosures are intended to protect consumers. I suspect the disclosures lead to some reduced level of use. This is good news if you didn’t need the drug to begin with, but if the benefits of the drug are being devalued due to the overweighting of the disclosures, it may be causing harm to folks that opt out.