Citation

Huss J. CMAJ 2005; 172(7): 858.

Affiliation

Internal Medicine Business Unit, Sanofi-Aventis, Montreal, Que., Canada

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, Canadian Medical Association)

DOI

10.1503/cmaj.1050029

PMID

15795394

Abstract

We agree with Robert Shepherd that there is no place for violence in pharmaceutical advertising. His concern over the image of a pistol in our ad gives us a welcome opportunity to discuss an issue to which we, as pharmaceutical marketers, paid a great deal of attention in developing the Ketek (telithromycin) advertising campaign.

The concept for the ad underwent several rounds of focus group testing (involving more than 300 Canadian physicians) to ensure that the brand messaging was both clear and professionally acceptable. The focus group results indicated that physicians fully understood the function of the pistol within the ad's creative framework and recognized it as a symbolic representation of the physician's armamentarium. Moreover, the physicians immediately recognized the targets as pathogens and not as representations -- virtual or imagined -- of real people.

In developing the advertising concept, we took the extra step of ensuring that no respiratory organs were displayed on the targets and that the images would not represent, in any way, anything that could relate to a living body.

As a final clearance, the ad was approved by the Pharmaceutical Advertising Advisory Board, an independent review agency whose primary role is to ensure that advertising of prescription drugs is accurate, balanced and evidence-based.

Our company's mission is to heal and improve quality of life. We trust that by shedding light on how we developed this ad, we have given CMAJ readers a clearer picture of our intent and the significant effort that we put into all our campaigns to make them both informative and creative.