Celebrex's 2-minute warning.

Sorry. Meant, 2-minute TV spot. Check it out on their main site. Well, pharma’s now come to this: a commercial that’s basically all warning. Not to mention, the USP is-wait for it- that the product has never been taken off the market. Trying to recall another product or category that has as its main benefit the fact that even though it’s potentially harmful, it’s still available to the public. Nope. (Coming up empty there unless you count the warnings before Jackass or Beavis and Butthead.)

Yes, pharma has a different FDA drummer to march to. I’ve worked on it. I know it all too well. But this is like Bud saying, “You know, some people may over-induldge and actually end up hurting or even killing someone in a car accident-but we’ve never been banned.”

Let’s dive deeper.

This spot sums up everything I hate about pharma advertising. It asks you to see the benefits. In a 120 second spot though, it lists them for all of eight seconds. The rest of the time is spent defending the bad rap the brand feels it’s getting in the category, basically pitching the idea that it’s really no worse than the other guys. And like all pharma, it has to include the standard “...but only you and your doctor can decide [ if Celebrex ] is right for you.”

That’s right, it should be only the doctor who decides. So stop wasting time and money repeating side effects you’ll still end up having to go over with them. The problem I have with this has always been the idea that someone’s going to decide to take medicine based on a TV spot alone without seeing their doc?

Deeper still? Ok.

How about talking down to me and repeating the message four thousand times like I’m an idiot, let alone talking that way to a physician. Which kills me. Every pharma team I've worked with says, “Oh, we gotta dumb it down for the physician.” You mean the person who’s had generally 12 more years of college than I have? Yep. He a idiot too.

What about the generic, looping and numbing background music track or the graphically plain human characters on solid background. Is Celebrex for achy joints or is it a sleep aid, because I’m getting drowsy watching.

(And whoever animated it, did a solid job. I’m not hating on the design grunts or whoever did the post. It’s just sometimes, you have to really question the message of what it is you work on and not get caught up in high five fever after settling on a concept the client finally approved, watered down, then manipulated for their own agenda.)

Flame away, pharma freakz.

Tags: Pfizer, Celebrex