You've probably seen them, especially on the news or some NFL football games - those drug ads for whatever-illness-you-can-think-of. They inevitably end with a sped up announcer outlining all the possible side effects, which sometimes make you wonder if the cure is worse than the disease. And they usually go by so fast, you can't possibly understand any of them. 

But as of May 2024, you won't be hearing those anymore. The Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. has issued new rules for the ads and it makes me wonder how the med-makers are going to be able to comply with them.

Starting in the New Year, the commercials will no longer be able to speed up those required warnings on radio and on TV, they have to be the same pace as the rest of the ad. And they can no longer show any distractions (like, say, someone hang gliding) to distract viewers when those spots are running on TV. 

Here's are some of the changes:

"...the information must be presented in “consumer-friendly” language and terminology that is readily understandable by the typical listener or viewer.

When it comes to radio ads, the FDA says the audio information in the major statement – the part of the ad related to the side effects of the drug – must be at least as understandable as the audio information presented in the rest of the ad, with the information delivered volume, articulation, and pacing used in the rest of the commercial.

That means rapid-fire disclosures will no longer be allowed."

This applies to the U.S. only, I'm not entirely sure what the specific rules are in Canada, but we rarely have drug commercials on TV. And the radio ones are unusually mystifying, saying the name of the medication but almost never telling you what it's used to treat. Which I think makes them not worth the ad buy at all.

I usually skip by the American ones, but I have to admit I'll be watching at least one to see how they change an approach that goes back decades. 

FDA Adopts New Rules On Radio And TV Ads