Medical Device-Makers Get Into The Ad Game, Heating Up Ethics Debate

Giant gray stomachs filled with toxic waste and flame-wielding archers have appeared in the skies above Twin Cities highways, courtesy of a medical device-maker called Torax Medical.

The billboards are intended to advertise a Torax medical device, the Linx, which treats painful acid reflux by using magnets to clamp down on the lower esophagus when drugs and natural bodily mechanisms can’t control stomach acid. Torax hopes the colorful billboards spur people with gastroesophageal reflux disease to visit an educational website, and then prod their doctors (and insurers) about the therapy.

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