Big Buck Big Pharma Case Study Big Bucks, Big Pharma pulls back the curtain on the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry to expose the insidious ways that illness is used, manipulated and in some instances created, for capital gain. Using excerpts from drug company advertisements as well as news reports on the pharmaceutical industry, the documentary raised important questions and presents options for the consumer empowerment. The film examines how direct-to-consumer advertising of medications is a fairly recent innovation that has led to a sharp increase in the sales of prescription drugs. Americans are encouraged to “ask your doctor” for name brand drugs numerous times throughout the day. Doctor’s report that sometimes patients will request a medication they have seen advertised without even knowing what condition or symptoms it is meant to treat. Advertisements in fact provide very little information about prescription drugs. Instead, the drugs are emotionally branded by associating their names with images of happy people, living fulfilling lives, in beautiful settings. Other pharmaceutical advertisements present normal aspects of life as serious medical conditions, leading healthy people to believe that they need unnecessary, and potentially harmful, and prescriptions. Throughout the case study there were several different section: Branding Drugs, Swimming in Pills, Disease Mongering, No Free Lunch, and A Healthier Prescription. In the section Branding Drugs DTC advertising of prescription drugs uses the same techniques as advertising for other commodities: branding products by associating them with positive emotions and images of happy people living fulfilling lives. You rarely see patients suffering from ailments in these ads. The positive images, however, are often contradicted by the lists of unpleasant and/or dangerous side effects that the