Are signs and media capable of triggering effects that can be compared to those of drugs and medications? The study explores the powers of healing signs and toxic texts, as well as the significance of placebo effects. In contrast to widely researched effects such as goosebumps or heart palpitations, genuinely pharmacological physical effects have so far been only marginally described in media and cultural studies. The study reveals the extensive phenomenology of significant biophysiological influence on the body through semantically-mediated inputs, which can, in favorable cases, heal organic diseases but can also cause harmful effects, even leading to death by signs. In this context, the significance of placebo effects serves as a paradigm for cultural and media studies investigation.