Take 2 of these and call me in the morning.

There's something that I've never really understood about prescription drugs.  They seem to keep going up and up in price and there's lots of factors that lead to those price increases but the one that confuses me is advertising.  There's a significant chunk of the budgets of Eli Lilly, Phizer and more that is spent on advertising.  I wonder how much those pills would cost if that was scaled back 90%.  I mean, really, what is the advertising for?  I trust that my doctor will prescribe the drugs that I need when I need them. 

For instance, suppose you can't get a hard on.  You tell your doctor and he says, "Here try some Cialis and see if that helps."  Do you really turn to him and say, "No way Doc!" "I want those boner pills that Bob Dole takes." "Only a Bob Dole boner will treat my condition."  I'm sure there's some doctors out there that aren't as hip to the newest pills and potions, but I've never been to one that wasn't able to prescribe whatever pill I needed to treat whatever condition came along.  I don't sit and watch a commercial for Humira and think, I should ask my doctor about that. 1. I don't have Rheumatoid Arthritis and 2. If I did, I trust that he's already given me a drug that works.  If it's not working I'll go ask him to try something else, not wait to have my decisions made by an advertisement.  Seems silly to me.