You heard about the Rozerem reminder ad first on Pharma Marketing Blog (see “Rozerem Reverts to Reminder TV Ads“). Now get a load of Takeda’s lame defense:
“We don’t believe that they are reminder ads,” said Matt Kuhn, spokesman for Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America. “Rather, they are bookends to the full ad which…opens the commercial break.”
We have a saying in New York where I come from: “If you buy that, then I have a bridge to sell you.”
You can read more about this here…”Reminder ads draw fire as they gain adherents“
This MM&M piece goes on to say:
As for the reminder ads, Takeda started running them about two weeks ago as part of a DTC campaign that has been on air since last July. Its latest ad was first reported on pharmamarketingblog.com. [my emphasis]
Among its voluntary guidelines on DTC ads for members, the trade group PhRMA calls for a ban on reminder ads. Takeda says it adheres to those guidelines but doesn’t see its use of the so-called trailer ads as a contradiction.
“If you think about the whole approach to how the brand has been marketed, we think it has been unique,” Kuhn said. “And we think this a continuation of that, a somewhat unique approach.”
Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt… wake up and smell the roses. You are piling the BS on us so high and so deep, I can’t smell anything but you-know-what!
It seems that Takeda, after all, did agree to abide by the PhRMA DTC Guidelines. Matt chooses to redefine what a reminder ad is rather than admit that Takeda is in violation of it’s agreement. Looks like I’ll have to get PhRMA Intern on the case!
If you have seen the ad in question, how about joining me in reporting it to PhRMA? We’ll compare notes on how long, if at all, PhRMA takes to respond. Who knows, we may get another letter from Emily!
If you would like to submit a comment to the PhRMA Office of Accountability about a particular DTC advertisement, please follow these steps:
1. The Office can only accept comments made in writing (click to view form) and mailed to the PhRMA Office of Accountability, 950 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004 or faxed to 202-775-0258. [Get with the times, PhRMA! How about an online form? Afraid of getting too many comments?]
2. The comment should provide information sufficient to identify the company and/or DTC advertisement at issue.
3. The comment should relate in some way to an aspect of DTC advertising covered by the Principles.
4. Please be sure to include a return address so the Office of Accountability can acknowledge receipt of your comment. [Don’t hold your breath!]
If your comment relates to an aspect of a signatory company’s advertising that is covered by the Principles, the Office of Accountability will forward your comment to the relevant company for consideration. [Which the company will promptly ignore.]
Download the form and fill it out.
