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Monday, April 30, 2007

Educational DTC Drug Advertisements: "Minky Viagra Noni Noni Boo-Boo Plats"

We have posted before (most recently here) about the need to be very skeptical about direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical advertising. On the other hand, DTC proponents often claim that the ads are valuable because they are educational. However, Alex Berenson just reported in the New York Times on television ads by Pfizer Inc for Viagra now being aired in Canada,

The ads feature middle-aged men and women talking in a made-up language, save for one word.

'Viagra spanglecheff?' says a man to a friend at a bowling alley.

'Spanglecheff?' his friend asks.

'Minky Viagra noni noni boo-boo plats!' the first man replies, with a grin that suggests he is not talking about the drug’s side effects. The ads end with the slogan, 'The International Language of Viagra.'

I cannot wait to hear from Pfizer how complete gibberish is educational. But maybe to a drug marketer, it is.
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3 comments:

  1. .May 1, 2007 at 12:00:00 PM EDT

    Hahaha... they got you to WRITE about the ad, and if people TALK about the ad... hey what do they mean... they won... its all about recognition. And, if they don't tell what the indication for the drug is, they don't have to tell the side effects... there IS nothing educational about the ad, you would have to be culturally dead not to know about the big blue pill :)

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  2. AnonymousJune 1, 2007 at 2:49:00 PM EDT

    I am 8 years old. I saw these ads, and I don't understand them, neither does my brother. So how come Mom slaps us upside the head when we repeat them in front of Grandma?

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  3. AnonymousMarch 8, 2008 at 9:34:00 PM EST

    Its too funny what an impact this tiny little blue pill has made on our society. What did men do before this miraculous invention. I guess nothing. Haha.

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