{"id":5358,"date":"2013-11-25T07:55:40","date_gmt":"2013-11-25T14:55:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/responsiblemarketing.com\/blog\/?p=5358"},"modified":"2025-07-01T14:36:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T21:36:23","slug":"old-time-cough-syrup-labeling-and-the-side-effects-of-medical-disclaimers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outsourcemarketing.com\/blog\/old-time-cough-syrup-labeling-and-the-side-effects-of-medical-disclaimers\/","title":{"rendered":"Old time cough syrup labeling and the side effects of medical disclaimers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5359 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.outsourcemarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/coughsyrup-300x225.jpeg\" alt=\"One Night Cough Syrup\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Check out the interesting active ingredients in this 100-year-old cough syrup label:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Alcohol (less than 1%),<\/li>\n<li>Cannabis Indica F.E<i>. (a.k.a. marijuana)<\/i><\/li>\n<li>Chloroform<\/li>\n<li>Morphia, Sulph. <i>(a.k.a morphine)<\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Note how these ingredients are \u201cskillfully combined with a number of other ingredients.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What were the other ingredients? Coca leaves? Amyl nitrate? Do they call it \u201cOne Night\u201d cough syrup because you never regain consciousness after polishing off a few tablespoons?<\/p>\n<p>When people talk about the \u201cgood ol\u2019 days,\u201d is this what they are thinking about: When we could have good ol\u2019 \u201ccough syrup\u201d without the FDA and DEA messing with a proven formula for relief?<\/p>\n<p>Fast forward to today, and consider the \u201cside effects\u201d disclaimer so common in every commercial for prescription drugs.\u00a0 You know what I\u2019m talking about \u2013 the point in the drug commercial when they tell you everything that might go wrong from taking that medicine.\u00a0 For me, the old saying \u201cThe remedy is worse than the disease\u201d comes to mind every time.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s an eight minute compilation video capturing many of the \u201cside effects\u201d voice-overs we\u2019ve come to love.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/z0KFkQNFxsk?rel=0\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>What other type of product has this type of \u201cdisclaimer\u201d? One that:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Almost always puts the product in a negative light, at least for a few seconds.<\/li>\n<li>Seems unnecessary because a medical doctor is always the gatekeeper to prescription medication, and she should know this stuff , right?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>So drug companies must deal with the <a href=\"https:\/\/marketing.wharton.upenn.edu\/files\/?whdmsaction=public:main.file&amp;fileID=5092\">negative impact of the disclaimers<\/a>, and clear the additional hurdle of needing to see an expert to get approval to purchase the product.<\/p>\n<p>In spite of the challenges drug companies face, I believe these disclaimers\u2014while painful to experience as a consumer\u2014provide valuable patient protections that weren\u2019t in place back in the \u201cgood \u2018ol days.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Can you imagine drafting the disclaimer for One Night cough syrup? \u201cMake cause nodding off, giddiness, and\/or the munchies\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Check out the interesting active ingredients in this 100-year-old cough syrup label: Alcohol (less than&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2918],"tags":[2604],"class_list":{"0":"post-5358","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-responsible-marketing","8":"tag-advertising"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.0 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Side Effects Disclaimers and Old Time Cough Syrup Labels<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Side effects disclaimers are in every commercial for prescription drugs. Take a listen, the saying \u201cThe remedy is worse than the disease\u201d comes to mind...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.outsourcemarketing.com\/blog\/old-time-cough-syrup-labeling-and-the-side-effects-of-medical-disclaimers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Old time cough syrup labeling and the side effects of medical disclaimers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Check out the interesting active ingredients in this 100-year-old cough syrup label: Alcohol (less than 1%), Cannabis Indica F.E. (a.k.a. marijuana)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.outsourcemarketing.com\/blog\/old-time-cough-syrup-labeling-and-the-side-effects-of-medical-disclaimers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Outsource Marketing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/outsourcemarketing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-11-25T14:55:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-01T21:36:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.outsourcemarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_9369.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2445\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"977\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Patrick Byers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@outmark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@outmark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Patrick Byers\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.outsourcemarketing.com\/blog\/old-time-cough-syrup-labeling-and-the-side-effects-of-medical-disclaimers\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.outsourcemarketing.com\/blog\/old-time-cough-syrup-labeling-and-the-side-effects-of-medical-disclaimers\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Patrick Byers\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.outsourcemarketing.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f2deb41e52802d7a5b7080fc0a7d5f9f\"},\"headline\":\"Old time cough syrup labeling and the side effects of medical disclaimers\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-11-25T14:55:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-01T21:36:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.outsourcemarketing.com\/blog\/old-time-cough-syrup-labeling-and-the-side-effects-of-medical-disclaimers\/\"},\"wordCount\":329,\"commentCount\":2,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.outsourcemarketing.com\/blog\/old-time-cough-syrup-labeling-and-the-side-effects-of-medical-disclaimers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"keywords\":[\"advertising\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Responsible Marketing\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.outsourcemarketing.com\/blog\/old-time-cough-syrup-labeling-and-the-side-effects-of-medical-disclaimers\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.outsourcemarketing.com\/blog\/old-time-cough-syrup-labeling-and-the-side-effects-of-medical-disclaimers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.outsourcemarketing.com\/blog\/old-time-cough-syrup-labeling-and-the-side-effects-of-medical-disclaimers\/\",\"name\":\"Side Effects Disclaimers and Old Time Cough Syrup Labels\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.outsourcemarketing.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.outsourcemarketing.com\/blog\/old-time-cough-syrup-labeling-and-the-side-effects-of-medical-disclaimers\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.outsourcemarketing.com\/blog\/old-time-cough-syrup-labeling-and-the-side-effects-of-medical-disclaimers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-11-25T14:55:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-01T21:36:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.outsourcemarketing.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f2deb41e52802d7a5b7080fc0a7d5f9f\"},\"description\":\"Side effects disclaimers are in every commercial for prescription drugs. 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