Cute & Creepy DTC Drug Ad Mascots FDA Wants to Study How They Influence Consumers
“Advertisers use many techniques to increase consumer interest in their ads, including the use of animated spokes-characters [aka “mascots”],” notes the FDA in its Federal Register announcement. “It is important to examine whether animation in drug ads inflates efficacy perceptions, minimizes risk, or otherwise hinders comprehension of drug risks and benefits,” added the FDA.
Brand name drug mascots not only appear in TV and print ads, they also are plastered all over patient education brochures and other marketing pieces that pharma sales reps hand out to physicians in their offices, as well as in booths at medical conventions, websites, and wherever else there are eyeballs!
This article features our all-time favorite drug ad mascots.
Featured Mascots (partial list):
- Annoying Myrbetriq bladder character!
- Detrol bathroom lady
- Vesicare’s pipe people
- Xifaxan’s Gutsy “bubble guy”
- Mr. Mucus
- Lamisil’s Digger the dermatophyte
- “Sal” & “Marty” fish
- Many more!
Download the full article (PDF file) here:
www.pharma-mkting.com/news/pmnews1502-article02.pdf
Big Pharma’s Animated Ads & Mascots To Get FDA Scrutiny
#Pharma Cites 1st Amendment to Oppose FDA’s Study of Animated “Mascots” in Drug Ads
PMN1502-02
Issue: Vol. 15, No. 2: March 2016
