I once read somewhere that side effects are no different than main effects, they are simply effects of what the drug does. The only difference between main effects and side effects is that the main effects are the ones that are wanted and the side effects are the unwanted ones. Clearly, in drug ads, the main effects are highlighted, given top billing accompanied by pictures of happy people in beautiful settings, while the side effects are listed very quickly at the end, as if they were not worthy of attention. Can you imagine if the side effects were listed slowly accompanied by pictures of the miserable people experiencing them?