Ads Banned (nearly) Worldwide (Score 1)

Prescription medication advertising has been banned in Australia for decades for exactly the reasons most folk have pointed out in this discussion. Bottom line - your doctor is the best person qualified to make decisions about what medication you need.

And this is certainly not unique to OZ - most western countries (certainly Canada, NZ and Britain (if not most of Europe) have similar systems.

We also have an additional line of defence via our Pharmaceticals Benefit Scheme (PBS) which not only provides Australian's with affordable medication (thanks to bulk buying power and govt subsidy), but an important part of its function is to assess new medication prior to their acceptance on the PBS. Pharmacetical companies must submit new (and revised) drugs for independant review prior to their acceptance on the PBS. This is to ensure that the claims made by the manufacturer stand up to the evidence. Remarkably, hundreds (if not thousands) are turned away each year because the claims made either do not improve on existing (and typically cheaper) medication or do not live up to the claims whatsoever.

Without these sort of protections, I'd hate to see what you folk pay for medication!