That's the logo from this site which, you may have gathered, is a web based pregnancy prevention program. I don't know about you, but I think that the logo (and, for that matter, the program name) is pretty darn funny.
Also funny, in a you'd better laugh at the depths of human stupidity because otherwise you're sure to cry sort of way, is the site's backstory. You see, iPLEDGE is a cooperative venture between four manufacturers of an acne drug known variously as Accutane or isotretenoin. It turns out that Accutane is pretty much a miracle cure when it comes to clearing up the worst sorts of acne. The only drawback -- and this is why the FDA has only approved Accutane for the most extreme cases -- is that pregnancies which begin while a woman is using Accutane display a disturbing tendency toward miscarriages and birth defects.
But did I mention that Accutane is a miracle cure? Miracles being in high demand, American dermatologists write about 170,000 prescriptions a month for Accutane even though there are only about 6,000 cases for which the drug is approved.
Let's pause a moment to suss out the causal chain here. Step one: each month, some number of women have severe enough acne to warrant seeking medical advice. Step two: 85,000 of those women are given prescriptions for the miracle cure Accutane. Step three: 85,000 clear skinned women look out on a bright new day. Step four: sex! Step five: pregnancy. Step six: side effects.
Now, obviously, it would be unreasonable to expect dermatologists to refrain from prescribing Accutane for dangerous, unapproved uses. Not only would that make it tough for the dermatologists to attract repeat business, but it would also cut into drug industry profits.
We can't have that!
So we've got iPLEDGE. The only hitch is that it doesn't seem to work. What are you gonna do?
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