Merck dermatology marketing director Kevin Nalty has a side job: as a YouTube comedy star, says Jim Edwards over at BNET Pharma. Edwards displays Nalty’s talent using the following “sophomoric” farting in public video, which has received about 7 million views so far.
“Until this week,” said Nalty, “‘Nalts’ [Nalty’s YouTube personna] has had no association with Merck. But the MediaWeek story ‘outed me.’ I don’t do videos about Merck, and generally keep my online persona far from my day job.”
Nalty may not do videos about Merck, but he did at least one video spoofing adult ADHD, a medical condition that one pharmaceutical company thinks is serious. I used this video, entitled “ADHD Boy,” in the post “Vyvanse Warning Letter: Too Late! Shire Got Rid of Ty Pennington Long Ago!” back in October 2008. Little did I know then that the star of that video was a Merck marketing director! While it’s still available, take a look at this video:
In contrast to the “Farting in Public” video, “ADHD Boy” has been viewed only about 100,000 times so far!
I missed Nalty’s presentation at the ePharma Summit in January. Otherwise, I would have recognized him right away and “outed” him myself!
“My engagement in social media is helpful to understanding how pharma can play appropriately in this critical space,” said Nalty. It remains to be seen, however, if Merck thinks videos like “ADHD Boy” is an appropriate use of space by one of its pharmaceutical marketing directors! For the record, I hope they do!
