Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Not Buying It

When I was out of town last week, I feared that I was going to run out of reading material, especially for the flight home.  (Any reader will understand this fear.)  So while I was picking up a few items at the grocery store, my eyes fell on the latest issue of Prevention magazine.  Between Valerie Bertinelli being on the cover and the promises of greater health and fitness in the headlines, I decided to pick it up.  Growing up, my mother subscribed to Prevention and I owe a lot of my healthful ways to the things she learned in this magazine.  However, in a recent conversation, my mother said she didn't buy the magazine as it was just "junk."  I wasn't sure what she meant by that comment.


As I left Tampa and settled into my seat on the plane, I pulled out my copy of Prevention and started reading.  It had some good articles and I did learn some new things.  But what startled me was the sheer number of advertisements for pharmaceuticals.  I counted nine; not just nine small ads, but nine multi-page ads, some will pullout mail-in postcards.  One advertisement covered six - yes, six - pages.  I was stunned.  It seems that the drug companies are supporting this magazine.  As someone interested in and studying health and wellness, I just felt it to be wrong that a magazine emphasizing a healthier life-style and called "Prevention" would be supported by those companies.  To me it seems to be a conflict of interest.  How can you simultaneously promote preventative medicine and at the same time, sell pharmaceuticals that don't take prevention into consideration.  The drugs are promoted as the magic cure - that life choices aren't important.   Seeing that obvious conflict, I've decided I won't be buying that magazine again.

4 comments:

Adrienne said...

Cherie - thanks for visiting me today. We both like eggplant, Flylady, Fleetwood Mac, Nora Jones, The Artists Way, and animals. Sounds about right...

I was sorry to read about Zelda and some of the goat problems. I am a huge fan of Nubian goats - such beautiful eyes (although I don't have any.)Goats not eyes. What a lousy sentence! heh...

Adrienne said...

...and, I positively panic at the thought of running out of books. If we have a huge winter storm predicted, everyone else heads to the grocery store. I head to the library.

Cherie said...

Adrienne, yes we do have a lot in common! We have Boer goats but I'm sure Nubians are just as nice. :)

Running out of books?! To quote Jefferson, I cannot live without books.

Deanna said...

My mom used to buy Prevention magazine, too, and even as a young teen I enjoyed reading it. I'm sure it was the beginning of my interest in natural health. I haven't even glanced at one in many years. I'm sorry to hear they've strayed from their roots.