Direct-to-consumer drug advertising has tripled to $2.8 billion worth a year since the FDA loosened restrictions in 1997. Manufacturers spend almost twice that amount on sales visits to doctors to promote their products, and another $2 billion on "educational" events.
If this story interests you, please review the Lancet article I posted earlier this year on how drug ads in medical journals are also highly deceptive.
Associated Press August 9, 2003