For most of my life I had no idea what the difference was between major over the counter painkillers; my family used ibuprofen while I was growing up so that is what I have always used. Now that I am older and do know some of the differences I gladly choose Ibuprofen over any of the other OTC painkillers.
Ibuprofen falls under the category of 'non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs' (NSAIDs). Advil is the generic brand name that sells the drug; it has been around since the 1950's. After some quick research, I found that I could purchase Advil in a bottle of 300 count and 200 mg per at a whopping price of $14.42 on Amazon. But what about some 'off' brands of the drug, they have to exist?
Basic Care brand Ibuprofen, one of my most reliable companions. If there was ever a time I was too sore after sports practice or maybe I rolled an ankle for the 100th time, Basic Care brand Ibuprofen was there for me. The active ingredient (Ibuprofen) is the same as Advil. I found Basic Care brand Ibuprofen on Amazon in a bottle of 500 count and 200 mg per at a lovely price of $6.98. So with this brand, I get more in a bottle, for half the cost!
In my opinion, I have never noticed a difference between taking Advil and Basic Care Ibuprofen; I do know of sever people who swear by Advil firmly believing that it is better. I often hear them say it taste better, which is true. Most Advil is sugar coated to make the experience of taking drugs a little more pleasant. I think if you have the drug in your mouth long enough to really notice the taste, you are doing it very wrong and the sugar coating is definitely not worth twice the cost. It is like Robin said, these people pay more so they have convinced themselves that it works better.
Is it right that people pay twice the money for a product they can get cheaper with a different brand? Yes it is right, it's the consumers money, they should be responsible for their purchase. Access to the internet, and easy information regarding the subject is readily available. It is a wonder that the generic brand is able to set their prices so high. They were the first to use the drug, so they have that 'Name' that is associated with it. Either way, I will stick with my Basic Care brand Ibuprofen.
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Growing up, I always thought that Ibuprofen and Advil were different things because I'd never taken Advil, only ever the off-brand bottles that just said "Ibuprofen" in large letters. I will never pay for the brand name for these drugs because I was raised on the off-brand and that is what I trust. I'm glad I was raised this way, otherwise I would be like many of those other suckers out there paying for Advil because it is what they grew up with and what is "best".
ReplyDeleteGreat point with the consumers being responsible for their purchase. While it's tempting to assign this to "evil marketing" at the end of the day we all have to be accountable for what we do. OTC medicines are easy to research and it only takes a few minutes to find out that Advil is the same as generic ibuprofen. The existence of the price markup tells me that enough people don't care enough to to do the research and are okay with paying the markup for continued ignorance. We all have limited time in the day and we get to chose (to a large extent) the topics we remain ignorant on.
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