John Mack asked whether some of today’s pharma ads are really for disease awareness or for disease mongering.
As an industry consultant and ex-employee of pharma companies, I may be prone to sympathy for the pharma industry than others. However, whenever I see the ad for “restless leg syndrome” on TV, I really get miffed. One may argue that it’s such a rare condition that if it weren’t televised, those who suffer from it may not catch on. Same principle as putting “America’s Most Wanted” on TV.
On the other hand, come on……….! Restless leg syndrome on TV, marketed to consumers on primetime?
I have the same reaction for ED ads. An ad I particularly can’t stand is one where a woman is on the porch outside her house, and she’s talking about her husband’s ED, and how after taking the branded drug, their relationships have become so much better, therefore “ask your doctor about…” Now drug ads are trying to get other people in our lives to make us “ask our doctor about” a drug?
Drug companies are going to unbranded ED “education” because there are just too many brands now. Whatever clever brand ads you come up with won’t matter unless you “expand the total market” and everyone gets a slice of a bigger pie, instead of fighting over a bigger slice of the same pie.