post #5

I have only ever really bought 'off brand' medications, especially since I don't tend to take very many anyways. I grew up having generic Ibuprofen at my home, and after growing out of using the Flintstones vitamins as a kid, I've always used the generic Target brand daily multivitamin. I add a few other vitamins to my daily routine and have always just bought the cheapest bottle that has the dosages I like and good ingredients (no random fillers, extra ingredients, coatings, etc.).

When it comes to painkillers specifically, I have always used generic ibuprofen, typically in the large bottles from Sam's Club or Costco just because that's what my parents have always purchased. I do have friends who have always used Advil, and there have been times when I've asked someone for ibuprofen and they literally didn't know what that was and I had to then ask for Advil and then they knew what I was talking about. The other situation that has stood out to me has been the times when someone who typically only uses Advil has asked me for some, I've told them I have ibuprofen, and they have literally said they didn't want that because it isn't the same or didn't work as well as Advil. It's so weird to me that people really believe that Advil works differently than a generic ibuprofen when they contain the literal exact same ingredients.

When I looked into the ibuprofen I usually use from Sam's Club, I found that I can buy 1200 ct. bottles of 200mg ibuprofen tablets for $10.54 ($0.0087 per tablet) whereas a 360 ct. bottle of Advil 200mg ibuprofen tablets are $16.48 ($0.046 per tablet). That is such a price difference for exactly the same product to get the same results. I personally will never spend the extra money on Advil, or really any day-to-day medicines to get the name brand instead of the generic products that work great.