Direct-to-consumer drug ads have been legal in the US since 1985, but according to the World Health Organization, they really "took off in 1997 when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) eased up on a rule obliging companies to offer a detailed list of side-effects in their infomercials." A new, short video on Vox.com provides a history of these ads and the regulatory and legal decisions that allow them. Those include the landmark 1976 Supreme Court ruling in Virginia State Pharmacy Board v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, which for the first time held that "commercial speech" is protected by the First Amendment. The video shows some of the earliest TV drug ads and outlines empirical research about their effects. The upshot? As annoying and ubiquitous as they are, these ads aren't necessarily bad for us – and in some cases they actually help. View the video here.