Side Effects

It takes surprisingly little editing to turn a prescription drug commercial into a dystopian hallucination. It’s less a reimagining than a slight reframing of the not-so-latent dread of the imagery and messages embedded in the advertising. The manufactured captions for this piece come from wading through and transcribing the side effects from an archive of prescription drug commercials. The original sound in the commercial is replaced by my own.

 This piece is not meant to demean illness and the treatments we seek. But rather a critical examination of the problematic relationship between helping people and the drive for profit.

Changes in behavior, Hostility, Agitation, Depressed mood, Allergic or serious skin reactions, Swelling of face mouth throat, Rash, Nausea, Trouble sleeping and vivid unusual or strange dreams, Use caution when driving or operating machinery

Vomiting, Hair loss

Aggressiveness agitation hallucinations or confusion, Allergic reactions such as tongue and throat swelling occur rarely (and may be fatal)

Unpleasant taste headache dizziness, Morning drowsiness

Increased rick of death (or stroke), High fever, stiff muscles and confusion, Uncontrollable muscle movements, Increased cholesterol, weight gain, decreased white blood cells, Dizziness on standing, seizures, trouble swallowing and impaired judgment or motor skills.

Chest pain, shortness of breath, diarrhea, severe stomach pain or tenderness, severe nausea or vomiting, extreme fatigue constipation excessive thirst or urine swollen ankles loss of appetite rash itching headache confusion hallucinations muscle or joint pain. Flushing, fever or weakness

These are not all the possible side effects