{"id":7836,"date":"2006-10-20T10:37:00","date_gmt":"2006-10-20T10:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pharma-mkting.com\/lipitors-jarvik-fop-or-flop\/"},"modified":"2019-02-21T01:26:54","modified_gmt":"2019-02-21T01:26:54","slug":"lipitors-jarvik-fop-or-flop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/blog\/lipitors-jarvik-fop-or-flop\/","title":{"rendered":"Lipitor’s Jarvik: Fop or Flop?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is Dr. Robert Jarvik, inventor of the Jarvik artificial heart, a fop? Or is he a flop?<\/p>\n

Dr. Jarvik appears in all the recent Lipitor ads such as the print ad shown below, which I scanned from the recent issue of the The New Yorker.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
I was struck by the TV version of this ad where Dr. Jarvik strolls “foppily” through and around a hologram — or it seems like one — of a heart.<\/p>\n

When I saw that natty suit, just the right amount of cuff showing, the PURPLE tie and matching handkerchief in the jacket pocket, and his peculiar way of walking, I thought immediately “gay!” Not that there’s anything wrong with that! (I also thought maybe the color scheme was more appropriate for Nexium — the Purple Pill.)<\/p>\n

But “fop” may be a better term to describe Jarvik in these ads. I found this definition of fop at answers.com<\/a>:<\/p>\n

fop (f\u014fp) n: A man who is preoccupied with and often vain about his clothes and manners <\/p>\n

Dr. Jarvik, dressed up in that purple tie ensemble, would be a perfect picture of a fop to include next to the definition in a dictionary.<\/p>\n

Is there anything wrong with being a fop? You betcha! There is something odd about a foppy image of a doctor in a DTC ad. I just think it goes over like a lead balloon.<\/p>\n

Inventor of an artificial heart or not, what guy wants to be examined by a doctor who looks like this! Maybe it’s an OK look for an OB\/Gyn, but not a cardiologist — which, next to a brain surgeon, is the most manly medical specialty.<\/p>\n

So much for Jarvik the fop, but what about Jarvik the flop?<\/p>\n

I ask that because recently I’ve seen a new version of the TV spot where Jarvik is dressed in a sports coat and open shirt. No purple tie — no tie all. I took the following photo off my TV:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Much better, don’t you agree? And the blue shirt is true to the Lipitor brand color scheme.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Pfizer CEO Jeffrey Kindler, who does not look like a man who has many fops as friends, saw the purple tie ad on TV and that’s why it was pulled.<\/p>\n

Jarvik was touted as the first “real” doctor to be used in a drug ad — as opposed to fake doctors like the one suggested by Mandy Patinkin (who played Dr. Jeffrey Geiger on CBS’s Chicago Hope TV show) in the Crestor ads.<\/p>\n

I am wondering which costs more — fake doctor or real doctor? Looking at the choice of clothes, I’d say Jarvik costs more than Patinkin.<\/p>\n

But it’s all good. According to Robin Koval, president of Kaplan Thaler, the agency Pfizer hired to create the Jarvik ads, “We think Dr. Jarvik is an amazing spokesperson, [as the inventor of the artificial heart] he’s beyond a celebrity spokesperson.” Yeah, way more expensive and certainly more foppy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is Dr. Robert Jarvik, inventor of the Jarvik artificial heart, a fop? Or is he a flop? Dr. Jarvik appears in all the recent Lipitor ads such as the print ad shown below, which I scanned from the recent issue of the The New Yorker. 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