corporate advertisingFrom: Susan Garrard [garrards001@hawaii.rr.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 04, 2002 8:27 PM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: corporate advertising
Hello,
   As a mother who spends too much time and energy trying to filter the amount of advertisement directed at my children, I am dismayed to learn that the FDA is considering loosening regulations on corporate advertisement (per 029N-O29).
   Corporations enjoy an access to the media that parents will never have.  When have you ever seen a public service announcement on TV advocating that kids: save their money, eat healthy food, exercise, and be grateful for what they have in relation to what most people on the planet have?  What about public service announcements that help kids learn to distinguish between what is good for them versus what some profit driven company wants to sell them through psychologically manipulative advertising?
   Instead our country is facing a health crisis with kids becoming obese, getting type 2 diabetes, and beginning to consume alcohol at younger and younger ages.  Restricting advertising on tobacco, alcohol, gambling and pharmaceuticals are essential for protecting our public health.  Of all the problems facing our country insufficient advertising for these things is not one of them.   
   Is any one at the helm of the FDA a parent?  A side effect of corporate greed is the way advertising drives a wedge between parents and children and seduces children to nag parents for things that are not good for them, and that parents can't afford.  Parents can get into debt trying to keep pace with this lunacy.  Public health should be a higher priority than protecting corporations or their right to advertise.  
   The FDA should take the higher moral ground, and seek the right balance between individuals and corporations in the area of public health, and not tip it further towards corporations and their lobbyist in the Capital.  
   In addition the FDA should work hard to maximize its' authority to regulate commercial speech because direct to consumer drug advertising exists primarily to promote the sale of drugs not to educate people about their health so that they are empowered to act in their best interest.  
Susan Garrard