[Ads-l] scary side-effects in TV ads

[Charles C Doyle]

In the multitudinous TV commercials for medications (both prescription drugs and patent medicines), there will be an advisory (probably required by law) about serious side-effects that may befall, in which case an unlucky patient is invariably advised to see a physician "right away"--never "immediately," "without delay," or "at once."  I suppose the chatty and informal "right away" sounds friendlier and less frightening.

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org