Self-medication is a growing global phenomenon traditionally defined as an individual action of taking medication or medical treatment without prescription. However, this view falls short of the contemporary phenomenon that goes beyond self-care and is increasingly associated with mass consumption induced by advertising. In this sense, this paper introduces definitions and explanatory theories of selfmedication offered in the scientific literature, especially those that emphasize the self-care dimension (e.g., the concept of Zoopharmacognosy), and presents a new hypothesis about self-medication, as individual consumer behavior explained by a simple causal cognitive positioning of drug action, facilitated by drug marketing and advertising. We conclude showing the importance of counteracting the effect of publicity by means of increased consumer education about the risk implied by the complexity of drug actions on the organism due to self-medication.