America's Pharmaceutical Companies
Landscapes

Another ad in the campaign for America's Pharmaceutical Companies works as an advocacy ad. A series of elderly persons participate in sports such as tennis, swimming, horseback riding, biking, golfing, and even directing a marching band are spliced with images of researchers in white coats checking charts, a test tube held in the air, computerized graphs, liquid being poured from a beaker to a test tube, and smiling individual faces. The male narrator's voiceover explains:

    Our ideas about aging are changing
    What was old yesterday is today active and alive
    Our ideas about aging are changing
    And prescription medicines are helping to change them
    New medicines that help prevent heart attacks and strokes
    That stop osteoporosis before it cripples
    That relieve arthritis pain
    Medicines that reduce the need for surgery
    and hospital stays
    Most of America's seniors have insurance coverage for these medicines
    But some of our seniors don't
    At America's pharmaceutical companies
    We want every senior to have access to prescription medicines
    Our ideas about aging are changing
    As part of that change
    Let's expand Medicare coverage for prescription medicines
    So that all our seniors that need them can have them
    To learn more about our ideas on expanding drug coverage for seniors
    Visit us at www.coverageforseniors.org

Given growing public anxieties about the rising cost of healthcare, and particularly the costs of prescription drugs, the drug industry represents itself as an advocate of providing the necessary state support to make these drugs available to people who can't afford them. While this text continues to tout revolutionary advances in medicines, it recognizes that touting miracles and denying people access to these wonders is a politically unwise position.