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Throughout the early 1940’s to mid 1960’s, the popular habit of smoking cigarettes was not only condoned, but advertised by doctors and lawmakers. With the support of medical professionals and non-restrictive advertisement laws, the widespread use of this deadly product exploded. The ‘Big Tobacco’ industry and the federal government made enormous amounts in profit and tax revenue. Numerous similarities can be found between the advertising of cigarettes and the prescription opioid, OxyContin. ‘Big Tobacco’ and the producer of OxyContin, Purdue Pharma (Hoffman and Williams Walsh), employed incredibly similar tactics to encourage the public to use their lethal products. By controlling the narrative about the potential dangers, and the addictive properties through their use of advertisements, both “Big Tobacco” and Purdue Pharmaceuticals accomplished their goals of inspiring the “why wouldn’t I use it” question in the consumers’ minds

Fletcher, Gillian

College of DuPage 
DigitalCommons@COD 
Student Scholarship English 
3-7-2020 
“Why Wouldn’t I Use It?”: Purdue Pharmaceutical’s Push of Pills 
Gillian Fletcher 
College of DuPage 
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 Part of the Applied Ethics Commons, Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Commons, and the 
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Fletcher, Gillian, "“Why Wouldn’t I Use It?”: Purdue Pharmaceutical’s Push of Pills" (2020). Student 
Scholarship. 2. 
https://dc.cod.edu/englishpub_student_pubs/2 
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Gillian Fletcher  
Professor Trina Sotirakopulos  
English 1102-HON10 
7 March 2020  
    
“Why Wouldn’t I Use It?”: Purdue Pharmaceutical’s Push of Pills  
Throughout the early 1940’s to mid 1960’s, the popular habit of smoking cigarettes was 
not only condoned, but advertised by doctors and lawmakers. With the support of medical 
professionals and non-restrictive advertisement laws, the widespread use of this deadly product 
exploded. The ‘Big Tobacco’ industry and the federal government made enormous amounts in 
profit and tax revenue. Numerous similarities can be found between the advertising of cigarettes 
and the prescription opioid, OxyContin. ‘Big Tobacco’ and the producer of OxyContin, Purdue 
Pharma (Hoffman and Williams Walsh), employed incredibly similar tactics to encourage the 
public to use their lethal products. By controlling the narrative about the potential dangers, and 
the addictive properties through their use of advertisements, both “Big Tobacco” and Purdue 
Pharmaceuticals accomplished their goals of inspiring the “why wouldn’t I use it” question in the 
consumers’ minds.   
 Through close manipulation of the public’s understanding about OxyContin, the entire 
nation, the United States, was deceived into believing that consuming the drug was as safe as it 
was effective. The misrepresentation of OxyContin in television commercials, magazine ads, 
branded promotional gifts and radio spots all painted a picture of a drug that would change lives 
for the better, through the popular tagline, “‘Remember, effective relief just takes two’” 
(Kelvey). The language used in this tagline implies that the substance is safe due to the low 
number of pills it takes to provide relief for a patient. What this phrase fails to mention is why it 
only “…just takes two” (Kelvey).   
Rather than the desirable, immediately pain-free lifestyle that the Purdue Pharmaceutical ads 
promoted, the lives of millions were destroyed by addiction and overdose. 
 In conjunction with the jaded portrayal of OxyContin to the general public, a massive 
effort by the Big Pharma enterprise heavily promoted the drug to physicians capable of 
prescribing opioids. An article published by Smithsonian Magazine, highlights the persuasive 
methods employed by Purdue Pharmaceuticals to change prior attitudes about prescribing such 
strong painkillers. “The real fire… was a behind-the-scenes effort to establish a laxer attitude 
toward prescribing opioid medications generally, one which made regulators and physicians 
alike more accepting of OxyContin” (Kelvey). By convincing physicians that OxyContin was not 
only a safe, but better alternative to other painkillers, Purdue Pharmaceuticals single-handedly 
increased the quantity prescribed of their drug. Making OxyContin far more accessible for 
patients through sale tactics such as giving free sample coupons, (Kelvey) supplemented their 
push of pills on a nationwide scale.  
By comparing a previous health crisis, the widespread use of cigarettes, it is apparent that 
advertising has had a major role in shaping the public’s opinion of dangerous substances. The 
promotion of the life-threatening habit of smoking cigarettes perfectly mirrors the promotion of 
the drug OxyContin. Both cigarette producers and Purdue Pharmaceuticals launched a rhetorical 
approach in their advertisements to appeal to consumer logic. Both Philip Morris cigarettes and 
Purdue Pharmaceuticals paid and supported physicians in exchange for the ability to advertise a 
doctor’s ‘seal of approval’. An article published by History.com highlighting the unethical 
marketing strategy employed by Philip Morris cigarettes states: ‘the Philip Morris company… ad 
claim[ed] doctors had conducted a study showing ‘when smokers changed to Philip Morris, 
every case of irritation cleared completely and definitely improved.’ What it didn’t mention was 
that Philip Morris had sponsored those doctors” (Little). This back-alley control over the positive 
language that was being used in advertisements is identical to the crooked sales tactics used by 
Purdue Pharmaceuticals.  
Mimicking the same tactic as the Philip Morris company, Purdue Pharmaceuticals also 
had their own privately funded physician, Dr. Sally Satel. The non-profit newsroom, ProPublica, 
exposed the convoluted relationship between OxyContin advocate Dr. Satel, and Purdue 
Pharmaceuticals for what it really was. Satel published numerous articles in support and defense 
of prescribing OxyContin as a safe pain management solution. To craft these seemingly credible 
arguments in support of the drug, Dr. Satel cited numerous studies and provided additional 
research from other doctors. The ProPublica article by David Armstrong, unearths Satel’s paid 
involvement with Purdue. Through close examination, it discovered that Satel’s cited sources 
and research were also funded by Purdue Pharmaceuticals (Armstrong). ‘Think Tanks’, doctors, 
and scientific researchers funded by the Big Pharma empire, were expected to produce evidence 
for reporters and healthcare professionals, like Satel, to use in hopes of swaying the public’s 
opinion and negating claims that the drug was highly addictive. These supposed “experts” in the 
field were paid to create intentionally biased content that would appear logical to the public due 
to the involvement of trusted medical professionals.   
Following a tactical approach to downplay the addictive nature of OxyContin by Purdue 
Pharmaceuticals, it successfully manifested itself in the intended use section of the in package 
insert (“Dope Dealers with White Lab Coats” [ 00:07:19]). Purdue Pharmaceuticals deliberately 
wrote the literature about the drug to be vague, therefore allowing significant amounts of the 
information to be left up to individual interpretation. According to the medication guide 
published by Purdue Pharma, "OxyContin is a strong prescription pain medicine… used to 
manage pain severe enough to require daily around-the-clock, long-term treatment with an 
opioid, when other pain treatments… do not treat your pain well enough or you cannot tolerate 
them” (Purdue Pharmaceuticals). Including language that can be perceived in numerous ways, 
such as the phrase “…do not treat your pain well enough or you cannot tolerate them” (Purdue 
Pharmaceuticals) allowed a network of corrupt physicians to justify their over-prescription of 
OxyContin.  
There is an immense amount of power that exists in controlling the narrative of a lethal 
substance, especially when vast amounts of money are involved. In the case of Purdue 
Pharmaceuticals, their billion-dollar drug empire (Armstrong) relied on the forfeiture of pertinent 
information to the public, and the spread of their version of the truth. A quantitative measure of 
this deliberate, focused push of OxyContin is seen when “sales grew from $48 million in 1996 to 
almost $1.1 billion in 2000” (Van Zee). The drastic one billion 52 million dollar increase in gross 
profit far exceeds the average increase in revenue when ethical marketing tactics are employed. 
When examining the information provided in OxyContin advertisements, which was produced 
by Purdue Pharmaceuticals, there were no warnings indicating that even appropriate usage can 
lead to a devastating addiction. 
The widespread and forceful push of prescription opioids by big pharmaceutical 
companies, such as Purdue Pharmaceuticals, resulted in a national opioid epidemic. Reformed 
drug advertisement laws and a monumental effort by the government judicial system as well as 
private sector drug addiction advocacy groups, sought to educate the public about the dangers of 
opioid usage. Unfortunately, these efforts have had little effect on curbing the rising number of 
prescription drug overdose related deaths. Purdue Pharmaceuticals had a large involvement in 
creating this national health epidemic by not disclosing all information about their drug in 
advertisements, manufacturing their own research to influence public opinion and creating a vast 
network of corrupt physicians to prescribe large quantities of the incredibly dangerous drug. All 
of these factors played a part in creating the opioid epidemic that we struggle with today. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
Works Cited 
Armstrong, David. "Inside Purdue Pharma's Media Playbook: How It Planted the Opioid 'Anti-
Story.'" ProPublica, 19 Nov. 2019. Pro Publica, www.propublica.org/article/inside-
purdue-pharma-media-playbook-how-it-planted-the-opioid-anti-story. Accessed 9 Mar. 
2020. 
"Dope Dealers with White Lab Coats." The Pharmacist, narrated by Daniel Schneider, season 1, 
episode 3, Netflix, 5 Feb. 2020. 
Hoffman, Jan, and Mary Williams Walsh. "Purdue Pharma, Maker of OxyContin, Files for 
Bankruptcy." The New York Times, 15 Sept. 2019. The New York Times, 
www.nytimes.com/2019/09/15/health/purdue-pharma-bankruptcy-opioids-
settlement.html. Accessed 23 Mar. 2020. 
Kelvey, Jon. "How Advertising Shaped the First Opioid Epidemic." Smithsonian Magazine, 3 
Apr. 2018. Smithsonian Magazine, www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-
advertising-shaped-first-opioid-epidemic-180968444/. Accessed 23 Mar. 2020. 
Little, Becky. "When Cigarette Companies Used Doctors to Push Smoking." History.com, A&E 
Television Networks, 13 Sept. 2018, www.history.com/news/cigarette-ads-doctors-
smoking-endorsement. Accessed 7 Apr. 2020. 
"Purdue Products." Purdue Pharmaceuticals, www.purduepharma.com/healthcare-
professionals/products/#prescription-opioids. Accessed 9 Mar. 2020. 
Van Zee, Art. "The promotion and marketing of oxycontin: commercial triumph, public health 
tragedy." American journal of public health vol. 99,2 (2009): 221-7. 
doi:10.2105/AJPH.2007.131714 
 
 
 
 
 
 


English

“Why Wouldn’t I Use It?”:  Purdue Pharmaceutical’s Push of Pills

Artist Statement: An abstract ethereal video that takes you anywhere else during dark times.https://dc.cod.edu/everywhen/1003/thumbnail.jp

Irwin, Rachel

Ethereal Dreams in a Dark Reality

https://dc.cod.edu/courier_slideshow/1005/thumbnail.jp

The Courier, vol 32 no 1 10-2-1998

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 42 Number 2 Article 5 
Spring 5-1-2020 
Scholarship 
Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr 
Recommended Citation 
(2020) "Scholarship," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 42 : No. 2 , Article 5. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol42/iss2/5 
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About
Prairie Light Review is the liberal arts journal of the College of 
DuPage. This biannual journal seeks to showcase the diverse 
work produced by creative individuals surrounding us. Our 
publication exists entirely because of our loyal community, 
as we only accept submissions from District 502 and rely 
on our team of student editors to edit, format, and produce 
the literary journal. Each piece submitted is evaluated 
anonymously in order to ensure objectivity. 
Join
To join our Editorial team, enroll in English 2210 for the 
upcoming semester! 
Direct additional inquiries to: 
Adam Fotos, Faculty Advisor 
fotosa@cod.edu
630-942-3167
Rolling Submissions
The Prairie Light Review accepts submissions the entire 
academic year. We accept submissions of any of the following 
categories: original fiction, nonfiction, essays, drama, poetry, 
graphic essays, black and white and color photography, and 2D and 
3D artwork of any medium.
If you are interested, please submit all work to:
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Scholarship Info
The Budilovsky Literary Scholarship is pleased to offer 
one $500 award per semester in conjunction with being 
published in the College of DuPage’s Prairie Light Review. 
To be considered for this award the entrant must remain a 
student at COD the following semester and have written a 
quality piece of any type (i.e. essay, poem, short story, etc). 
Preference will be made to pieces that are autobiographical 
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et al.: Scholarship
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Scholarship

Fotos, Adam

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 42 Number 2 Article 23 
Spring 5-1-2020 
A Thousand Icaruses 
Adam Fotos 
College of DuPage 
Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr 
Recommended Citation 
Fotos, Adam (2020) "A Thousand Icaruses," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 42 : No. 2 , Article 23. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol42/iss2/23 
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more information, please contact orenick@cod.edu. 
The Body of a Storm                              Elora Choudhury 
The night’s terror flashes its mirage of light. Sparks of light 
strike and electrify the ground with its brutal hits. The 
moon is a pulsing heart, the clouds its surrounding chest 
cavity, and the lightning bolts are divulging veins and 
arteries. Mother Nature rattles the earth’s rib cage with life.
A Thousand Icaruses                                      Adam Fotos
the orange robes dissolve
in and out of the 
white that settles over the temple’s gardens, 
the mist that wets the stones beneath my
feet. In a circle I walk around the chedi counting
   dead moths
piles of wings lie, 
scorched, twitching,
etched with continents and 
galaxies each 
wing a hand-painted kite, a cosmology
broken,
torn by 
a halogen god, the spotlight
that shines on the face of the King
at the base of the temple in a circle of
gold.
The chedi erupts from the mountain forest,
a round monolith whitewashed 
with fog – 
Someone sweeps the moths away.
I breathe clouds.
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A Thousand Icaruses

Niedra, Haley

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 42 Number 2 Article 46 
Spring 5-1-2020 
Reflections Upon a Strange Notion 
Haley Niedra 
College of DuPage 
Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr 
Recommended Citation 
Niedra, Haley (2020) "Reflections Upon a Strange Notion," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 42 : No. 2 , Article 
46. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol42/iss2/46 
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more information, please contact orenick@cod.edu. 
Reflections Upon a Strange Notion            Haley Niedra
  One day, a person spoke of the falling sun, and of the trails 
of light and colour that it had left behind it in the sky.  “Isn’t it 
glorious?” They exclaimed. “Isn’t this a thing of beauty?
  “Yes, it is,” I replied softly. It was beautiful. 
   “Aren’t the sunsets the most wonderful time of the day?” They 
asked me. 
It was a moment before I could answer. “No,” I said in the same 
tone. “No, they are not the most wonderful time of day to me.”
  The person seemed astounded. “Why? What do you mean?”
  But I found that I could not answer them, not in any sort of 
real way. I stammered out a few words - a fumbled excuse - and 
then I left them to wonder at my words. But I had not stopped 
thinking about that encounter… that conversation. And so I 
did what I always do best: I wrote down my thoughts - I put 
them onto paper. That is always how I can make sense of things. 
Communicate things. Never in speaking, but always in writing.
And so here are my musings:
  The sky has turned from blue to yellow, orange, crimson; it 
is the bleeding of the sun as she struggles to sunrise - as she 
struggles to overtake the darkness, never to be forced down and 
away again. And every day it is the same fight: she always returns 
to give this world light. She rises in the morn, triumphant, and 
soars to her height in the sky.  
  But once there, she realizes with a new terror that her reign - 
her victory - must soon end, and she must succumb for a time 
to the shadows of the dark night. The moon creeps over the sun 
and laughs as she is cast from her glory; and again, there are the 
yellow, orange, and crimson colours in the sky, the same trail 
of blood as the battle is over - lost - and the light disappears, 
replaced by a pale shadow… a ghost. 
  And when the day falls away, and the dusk begins to come, all 
42
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the sins of the world are cast up into the blood-crimson light, 
hurriedly awaiting to be hidden by the dark cover of night, where 
shame and sorrow dwell. But when the dawn comes, all of those 
sins are gone, and the day begins afresh. No regrets of the past 
are to be known here.
   Every day it is thus between the sun and the moon, between 
day and night: rise and fall, rise and fall. Each one succeeds for a 
time before she is toppled by her relentless opponent. Each does 
what the other cannot, and that is from whence their rivalry 
sprung. Neither has lost, and neither has won… and oh, they are 
so very different! 
   And so you see? That is why I have little love for sunsets - they 
are the reminder of all that has been lost in the day. And that is 
why I have great admiration for sunrises - they are the reminder 
of all that may be gained in a day. They show forth courage and 
beauty and deliver a promise that the sun will always rise, and 
tell that there will always be another tomorrow.
Walk in the Park
Karlette Murray
2
The Prairie Light Review, Vol. 42, No. 2 [2020], Art. 46
https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol42/iss2/46


Reflections Upon a Strange Notion

McNamara, Dave

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 42 Number 2 Article 66 
Spring 5-1-2020 
318 Sangamon Street 
Dave McNamara 
College of DuPage 
Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr 
Recommended Citation 
McNamara, Dave (2020) "318 Sangamon Street," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 42 : No. 2 , Article 66. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol42/iss2/66 
This Selection is brought to you for free and open access by the College Publications at DigitalCommons@COD. It 
has been accepted for inclusion in The Prairie Light Review by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@COD. For 
more information, please contact orenick@cod.edu. 
318 Sangamon Street                             Dave McNamara
It was supposed to be a starter home
Like how the long brown coffee table
Made of plastic and pressboard
Was donated by our deceased grandmother
Until we could afford another.
One of its cabinet doors hung broken,
Propped up against the peeling wood veneer.
When I was young I’d press my fingers
Into the scalloped edges of the table.
The grooves looked like tiger claws or talon marks,
Its plastic faded chocolate brown to khaki from
Rubbing my fingertips into them.
My brother and I played Cowboys and Indians on its top
With colored plastic figures and a couple of nickels
Used as bombs to slide through enemy lines.
Or we played paper football, flicking the triangle
Through hands made into goalposts
With our elbows braced upright
On the sagging tabletop.
 
We made do with the coffee table for years
Along with the spot where the cats soaked the rug
And carpet pad with urine,
Softening the linoleum tile underneath,
Rotting the wooden strip it was tacked on.
Just like we made do with broken beds
Pocked with piss, sweat and pubescent stains--
The earnest history of childhood longings
Found in the topography of discolorations--
Bent curtain rods with orange drapes
That the cats caught their claws in,
Hissing at something outside in the dark,
Bringing down both with a bang,
Exposing the naked porch light
Clotted with dead mosquitoes.
My brother would not wake, however,
And I was already awake, lying on my back,
Counting backwards and trying not to think.
We tolerated the yard of mud in the front,
And a tree sprouting in the foundation,
Shedding its leaves and winged seeds on the roof,
Growing ancient prairie plants in the gutters.
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 We took turns tolerating and ignoring,
Making do with whatever happened to work. 
We tackled the ones we could,
Solving the fixable to make us feel better. 
And we felt better, bonded by what was unique,
Like a weed growing in the cracks,
Beautiful even though damned by its name
Surrounded by the coarse and broken company
Of sidewalk. 
We ignored 
the chipped concrete of the back porch
Stained burgundy with mulberries,
Alive with teeming flies and June bugs,
The larvae moving underneath
The garbage can lid that smelled like murder
Or the back porch that looked like murder,
Or another kind of death you have to be careful
Not to talk about.
Do the Wave                                                               Jim Waters
2
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318 Sangamon Street

Przybysz, Madelene

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 43 Number 1 Article 22 
Fall 12-1-2020 
Drowning in Bliss 
Madelene Przybysz 
College of DuPage 
Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr 
Recommended Citation 
Przybysz, Madelene (2020) "Drowning in Bliss," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 43 : No. 1 , Article 22. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol43/iss1/22 
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has been accepted for inclusion in The Prairie Light Review by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@COD. For 
more information, please contact orenick@cod.edu. 
Drowning in Bliss
I went for a walk to find a new devotion 
Looking down empty streets and corridors
Stepping on squeaky floorboards
I lost all kinds of emotion 
My feet hit the pavement stumbling barefoot
Finding sanctuary among the open windows and locked doors
I came to a body 
So vast and long
It gazed at me.
I tried to wrap my arms around the ocean
So sweet and so blue
But my wingspan would not reach
Kissing my feet upon the sand 
It calls me closer
Grasping my ankles 
And then my waist as I began to wade 
Further and further 
Away from the shore of lost human connection
I am swept under by its embrace.
Currents rush past me as I was caught by its loving gaze
Pulling me closer in the undertow 
Closer to its heart in the deep blue
Madelene Przybysz
15
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Drowning in Bliss

Vega, Jolie

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 43 Number 1 Article 39 
Fall 12-1-2020 
Bunny Rabbit 
Jolie Vega 
College of DuPage 
Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr 
Recommended Citation 
Vega, Jolie (2020) "Bunny Rabbit," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 43 : No. 1 , Article 39. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol43/iss1/39 
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has been accepted for inclusion in The Prairie Light Review by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@COD. For 
more information, please contact orenick@cod.edu. 
Bunny Rabbit                                                                              Jolie Vega
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Bunny Rabbit

DeBoni, Ninetta

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 43 Number 1 Article 60 
Fall 12-1-2020 
Novel Romance 
Ninetta DeBoni 
College of DuPage 
Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr 
Recommended Citation 
DeBoni, Ninetta (2020) "Novel Romance," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 43 : No. 1 , Article 60. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol43/iss1/60 
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has been accepted for inclusion in The Prairie Light Review by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@COD. For 
more information, please contact orenick@cod.edu. 
Novel Romance
I am built like a bookcase;
meaning, despite all the words
stuck between my oak-shelf teeth, 
I will still struggle to say
‘I love you.’
Even with all the scripts 
and lines tucked tight
in my hollow chest,
I will not always tell you
what you want to hear.
Yet, in spite of everything,
I will let you take
a chapter or two 
of our story home with you
for safekeeping.
All I ask is that you read
the pages out loud
when I am away so 
you know that I 
will always
love you.
Ninetta DeBoni
61
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“Why Wouldn’t I Use It?”: Purdue Pharmaceutical’s Push of Pills