Over the counter drugs have become part and parcel of urban lifestyle. They are easily available
and affordable. The internet has made it possible to access information on health issues. This has
resulted into more and more people turning to self medication as a form of treatment of common
ailments. Because of the ready market for over the counter drugs, more pharmaceutical
companies have come up to get a share of the lucrative trade. This has led to competition.
Marketing plays a big 'role in the competition for the market. We would like to study the
advertising structures put in play by the pharmaceutical companies at the packaging level to
commercialize their products. We are interested in the semio-linguistic analysis of packaging of
painkillers and cough and cold medicines manufactured and sold in Nairobi.