I rarely take any medicine, but I favor generic brands of anything in theory. Hello, Costco and Walmart!

And as a working cartoonist, I’ve seen many many drug ads in magazines. The magazines are for a medical audience, mostly doctors, who are huge fans of cartoons…and possibly of new drugs. The pharmaceutical ads are some of the most innovative, fun ones I’ve seen: the page ad is coated with sandpaper, or gritty, or like sugar, or reflective or pop-out or fold-out, and I think there was a small sand timer in some. Big $ spent to produce and print those ads!

And of course we’ve all seen fancy medical relief ads on TV.

Still, I think the lay audience is more attracted towards saving money and buying cheap generic drugs. They always claim to be the same ingredients.

So although I heartily agree with the premise of buying cheap, I still liked this idea in the cartoon: this is what happens with OTC (over the counter) drugs: Scary Hacking Man.

ID #3255z Caption: Honey, it’s not a monster. It’s Daddy’s sinuses. He went the generic way this time.(mom talking to little boy who is frightened by a terrible hacking noise)