{"id":7254,"date":"2009-01-15T12:28:00","date_gmt":"2009-01-15T12:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pharma-mkting.com\/secret-lives-of-dtc-critters\/"},"modified":"2019-02-21T01:23:54","modified_gmt":"2019-02-21T01:23:54","slug":"secret-lives-of-dtc-critters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/blog\/secret-lives-of-dtc-critters\/","title":{"rendered":"The Secret Lives of DTC Critters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve often commented on the bees, beavers, moths, and other &#8220;critters&#8221; seen in direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA). Usually, like you, I wonder why pharma marketers use animated animals and icons rather than real people. Maybe it&#8217;s because bad things can happen to people who do not take their medication and it&#8217;s better to show that with icons.<\/p>\n<p>Take, for example, the balloon people in Enablex ads who explode due to overactive bladders, which happened to this poor gal at a high school reunion:<\/p>\n<p><a onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_ZiPiXEv_Q_g\/SW8ukxEr3JI\/AAAAAAAACLY\/OoLsSke3Lvo\/s1600-h\/Enablex+Exploding+Balloon.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 365px;\" src=\"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/Enablex-Exploding-Balloon.jpg\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291499296366779538\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">Harsh! (see &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/pharma-mkting.com\/blog\/2008\/07\/pharma-marketers-sometimes-view.html\">Pharma Marketers Sometimes View Patients Merely as Symptoms to be Treated<\/a>&#8220;).<\/div>\n<p>Of course, all ends well for the balloon people who ask their doctors about Enablex and fill their prescriptions for the drug, which doctors will prescribe 80% of the time that they are asked about brand name drugs.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s Mr. and Mrs. Balloon enjoying a quiet evening at home, where all seems well:<\/p>\n<p><a onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_ZiPiXEv_Q_g\/SW8syIGoeHI\/AAAAAAAACLQ\/n0vTlYAxHqI\/s1600-h\/Enablex-lovey-dovey.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 322px;\" src=\"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/Enablex-lovey-dovey.jpg\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291497326864005234\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>BUT, most DTC watchers would be surprised to see what&#8217;s happening upstairs behind the closed door of Ms. teenager Balloon who is entertaining her boy friends. Luckily, even balloons wear protection:<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">Hat tip to PharmaGossip for the &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/pharmagossip.blogspot.com\/2009\/01\/squeaky.html\">Squeaky<\/a>&#8221; video.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve often commented on the bees, beavers, moths, and other &#8220;critters&#8221; seen in direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA). Usually, like you, I wonder why pharma marketers use animated animals and icons rather than real people. Maybe it&#8217;s because bad things can happen to people who do not take their medication and it&#8217;s better to show that with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[86,1002],"topic":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Secret Lives of DTC Critters - Pharma Marketing Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/blog\/secret-lives-of-dtc-critters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Secret Lives of DTC Critters - Pharma Marketing Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I&#8217;ve often commented on the bees, beavers, moths, and other &#8220;critters&#8221; seen in direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA). Usually, like you, I wonder why pharma marketers use animated animals and icons rather than real people. 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