Roche has published a press release announcing their new advertising relationship with the animated film “Happy Feet”:

Happy Feet presents a wholesome storyline in a wintry backdrop that serves as an ideal platform for communicating to consumers, especially moms, about the flu,” said McGuire. “The Flu Facts campaign represents a new approach for the industry, combining disease awareness and education with pop culture and creativity.” Roche is the only pharmaceutical company partnering with Warner Bros. to feature the Happy Feet characters in advertising. The Happy Feet stars will appear in unbranded Flu Facts print ads beginning in November magazines, with national television ads starting October 23. The television ads include :30 and :60 second spots, which will air on all major networks and cable stations… Happy Feet is slated to hit theatres on November 17, just around the time when cold and flu season begins in the U.S…. Antivirals can help prevent flu following exposure to an infected person, and as a treatment, they reduce the duration of illness. [link]

Of course, Roche manufactures those antivirals. Backup to this campaign is the Flu Facts website, down the bottom there is a Roche logo, but how many people would be scrolling down? If it’s such an important message, why aren’t they just upfront about who is doing it, rather than relying on subconcious associations? Do they think that maybe we won’t trust it because they have a vested interest in us buying more drugs? Hmmm…

They did a similar thing in Australia, where the regulating body allowed them to run these unbranded ads prompting you to talk to your pharmacist about weight loss pills and because there was no brand name, it actually looked like a public health service announcement. It was tagged “Lose Weight Gain Life” which is not that different from our government sponsored “Life Be In It” campaigns. Strangely, there was a lot of green and white and later unbranded green and white packs started turning up in the windows of pharmacies. Lo and behold, Xenical has green and white packaging. Oh wow, I’ve just got all these subliminal impulses to trust it. This is despite criticism from the Dietician’s Association of Australia and the consumer advocate, Choice. Much like the Flu Facts campaign, the campaign had a “Lose Weight Gain Life” website. It now just redirects to the Xenical brand page, but here’s what Pharma Watch had to say about the campaign at the time:

Roche has conducted an extensive advertising campaign for orlistat, which is marketed for weight loss. The campaign included television advertisements, advertisements in magazines, glossy brochures displayed in community pharmacies, a free call number and a web site (www.loseweightgainlife.com.au). In this campaign the public was told the story of ‘Linda’ who took a ‘life-changing decision’ and states ‘I spoke to my doctor about modern innovative approaches to weight loss. That was 18kg ago!’. Other advertisements showed photos of Linda at the swimming pool and stated ‘Two years on and Linda is 30 kilos lighter and a whole lot wiser’. Concurrent mailings to doctors inform them about the ‘Lose Weight Gain Life Program’ which is in its ‘3rd successful year’ and includes reproductions of consumer advertisements and a letter with the logo ‘Xenical Lose Weight. Gain Life’. The advertisements to consumers do not mention the name of the drug and so are not banned under the current Medicines Australia Code of Conduct. The benefits of orlistat are exaggerated as a systematic review of the clinical effectiveness of orlistat found that the mean weight loss observed with orlistat was only 3.2 kg more than with placebo after two years.5The advertising campaign does not link with national initiatives, such as Active Australia, which encourage participation in physical activity. This campaign may raise false hopes in many people and may put general practitioners under great pressure to prescribe orlistat even if not clinically appropriate. [link]

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