The decade-old advent of DTC advertising on television has produced a storm of criticism and, in particular, parody. Just take a look at YouTube. Consumer Reports, however, has just launched a new monthly series that actually analyzes an ad, nearly sentency-by-sentence. The first installment, which was posted earlier this month on its site, takes a whack at Glaxo’s Requip, the med for Restless Leg Syndrome. Take a look.

In the critique, the consumer group’s Jamie Hirsh comments repeatedly after each of the ad’s assertions. For instance, a doc’s instant answer to the RLS problem is Requip. Then, however, the ad pauses and Hirsch appears to say “What he doesn’t mention is that before turning to medication, there are easier and cheaper options to consider.”

And then there’s the visual accompanying mention of side effects, which in this case include sleepiness during normal activities, such as driving. But the woman on the screen, as Hirsch points out, is doing a crossword puzzle, not tooling down the highway, so the seriousness is arguably minimized. And what’s not mentioned? She notes that these meds don’t work for everybody, and don’t always eliminate symptoms completely.

Consumer Reports promises more such criticiques. We’ll keep you apprised.