Celebrex should have stayed off the air

Apr/07/2007 10:15 Filed in: Current DTC
screenshot_02
So in order to make patients more comfortable with a prescription pain reliever Pfizer has decided to compare the dangers of Celebrex with OTC pain relievers. Notice to Pfizer: when the side effects use words like death and bleeding maybe its better not to use DTC advertising with consumers. You see consumers have very short attention spans and don't think logically they think emotionally. When they hear words like "death" and "bleeding" they are going to build a negative association of your product in their minds. This is marketing 101 under the chapter called "DUH" !





So telling me that the risks for Celebrex maybe the same as OTC products does little to make me feel better. In fact I may want to stop taking OTC products like Advil or Aleve, Consumers hear things selectively when they see ads on TV. Certain words tend to be more emotional than others (death is definitely one of them) and soon people are going to associate death with Celebrex. Now I am sure that the DTC people at Pfizer have a lot of research from focus groups that shows that the commercial is good but when are marketers going to learn that focus groups don't represent the general public. They are 4 or 6 people in an enclosed and regulated environment and they don't have the usual external distractions that we all get when commercials come on.


Can you imagine surfing the channels on TV only to hear:


These medicines also increase the chance of serious skin reactions or stomach and intestine problems, such as bleeding and ulcers, which can occur without warning and may cause death. With any of these medicines, patients also taking aspirin and the elderly are at increased risk for stomach bleeding and ulcers.




I'm a gambler so oh yeah...let me go ask my doctor for a medication that may cause intestinal bleeding and death ! The stupidity of this campaign is beyond imagination. Instead of explaining the risks of the medication (i.e. how many people in clinical studies reported these side effects) Pfizer has decided to compare the medication to OTC products which are a lot less expensive by the way.


I also love the cartoon blueprint it makes me feel like Pfizer has something to hide or is too cheap to use real people. I guess this campaign was supposed to make me feel more comfortable in taking Celebrex (I have a prescription for Celebrex for leg pain) but now I don't want to use it anymore. Instead I'll use topical heating pads or ointments because I don't want to risk any intestinal bleeding. Thanks Pfizer for reminding me of the risks, one less Rx to renew.

Tags:

|