I went to a seminar for nurses on pharmacology and they talked about naming drugs—lots have X or Z in the names because people associate those with crossing out or like the Zorro thing. This makes someone more likely to think this drug will solve their problem.
You mean you and your sweetheart dont having matching clawfoot bathtubs? HA! I agree that I dont get it either. I think they were going for a relaxed moment. I found this:
But honestly, this never occurred to me!
"But where did that mastermind bathtub idea come from? Years of research and planning? Actually, it was a last-minute addition by the original director, Jonathan Darby, who would go on to direct Cialis ads for 5 more years. On a creative whim, he added the bathtub storyboard while on set for the first ad. It struck a chord with the brand managers and with audiences, generating lively discussions online and elsewhere. And the association stuck. As did the voice of actor James Naughton, who has done every Cialis TV ad voiceover since launch.
"Not everyone will like everything, but it created a discussion that is still alive today. We still get calls from consumers with ideas about the bathtubs," said Amy Meadows, consumer marketing brand director at Lilly. Ideas such as what music to play or where to put the bathtubs, she said, although the most frequently mentioned idea is to just use one bathtub."
Agree...it's always interesting to find out what their reasoning is for the creative decisions they make. I never had the thoughts they assumed I would have!
The old Xifaxan commercial for Irritable Bowel Syndrome remains the high (or low) bar for me. 😂 Reminds me of why I don’t miss cable TV. At the moment, none of my streaming services has commercials! 🤞
I used to work for a doctor before TV advertising of drugs was allowed.
Then, the detail people (the drug company sales force) would come to the offices with fancy lunches, contests for trips, stuff for the staff to use, pens, rulers, clocks, REFRIGERATORS, all labeled with
the drug company's name. Probably wads of cash and insider deals for the docs.
Oh, yeah, they'd also fill the drug cabinet with samples of all kinds of good stuff for the staff to use!
We got visits at least twice a week, maybe more often.
So Pharm somehow made all that shit illegal, so they could advertise and make billions more from inane TV spots. Ask your doctor about Chantix! It might not kill you before
YES! When I had my agency, we did a bunch of medical work. I would run into the drug reps sometimes. Perfectly coiffed, good looking people with boxes of pastries! And all the "trash and trinkets" like you said... pens, magnets, notepads... I missed the samples, though. Darn! 🤣 The country is so profit driven, we likely wont see an end to this anytime soon, sadly.
I don’t watch much tv but when I do, I’m gobsmacked that most of the commercials are for drugs, some of which are for problems I didn’t even know existed. Like David’s uncle, my dad was a pharmacist. He did not like big pharma especially the reps that came by like snake oil salesmen.
I was in the waiting area having my car serviced this morning. Their tv was on and it was non stop drug commercials. The audience for people who are starting to wear out is daytime TV! UGH. And you're right...I didnt even know eye mites were a thing, so when I saw the commercial, I was amazed. For me it was just really dumb! 😂
Only 25¢ a serving! Haha! Those were the standard back then... and isnt it funny how iconic mascots have become. We all know the Pillsbury Doughboy for example. Or the Michelin Man!
I am very glad others think the Jardiance commercial is so, so, so, bad. . . I've seen it about 50 times but could not -even if my life depended on it- tell you what the drug does!!??
Your comment proves a very important point in advertising. The creative overshadowed the product. Not good. The agency was not successful in creating the memorability for the drug...in my humble opinion, the weird dancing and singing was so off-putting that it failed miserably. They didnt ask me, though, so.... haha!!
Maybe it’s to treat and silence a certain individual who is prone to nonsensical word salads that seemingly are endless out his mouth. If so then let’s call it a miracle drug lmao 🤣
Exactly! It's ridiculous...they're creating a stir about a problem that isnt really a big problem. Yes, the condition can become harmful....but I found in my reading up on this issue that it's rare!
Thanks, Susan. I just spent an hour looking for eye mites. But we make our own choices, so I can't blame your headline.
I am now cross-eyed as a side effect. I'll need to find a drug for this, which will have side effects, of course, and I'll need a drug for those. Then, I'll need drugs for the side-effects from the drugs that help my other side effects. And then, drugs for those. I'm therefore expecting a very long recovery time.
The SNL skit nailed it.
I didn't spend anywhere near as much time as you did in consumer advertising, but some. It was a gas.
I also spent a lot of time in recruitment advertising. Yep, that was a thing — I don't know if it still is. I was a creative director, so I presented a lot of recruitment advertising campaigns to South San Francisco drug company execs, who were usually nerdy scientists. But none of them were involved in mite drugs. For some reason, the companies that needed creative recruitment advertising seemed to focus on cancer and such, so I enjoyed working with those folks.
And the nerdy scientists/execs, usually CEOs, were... interesting. But cool, too. They're a different breed, though, than the Big Pharma purveyors. They were the researchers.
"Ask your doctor is Susan Speaks is right for you. 😜"
One of the few things we can't overdose on, in my less than humble opinion.
Cross eyed! 😂😂 It’s true, one drug leads to another something or other. After I saw the Mite spot, I wondered how the creative director approached the client… what did the storyboards look like… was their focus group to test the ads effectiveness in an elementary school? Humor is hard because it’s subjective. But being clever is what advertisers should strive for and it’s the toughest to come up with.
I’m glad your doctor prescribes Susan Speaks! No side effects except maybe a laugh. 😂
Comedy is hard because it's mostly about timing, which is a hard thing to guarantee. So if you're in advertising, you sort of need a production track record. Ally & Gargano was able to just walk in and say, "let's do something funny!" Others, not so much. There's still some funny stuff going on but I don't know the names of the good agencies like I used to when I was young.
I have to wonder what she got paid to be a mite! 😂 Flo, the gal in the Progressive Insurance ads, is reportedly making over a million a year. And of course, she's typecast for ever....but who cares with that kind of income!
The Jardiance commercials drive me crazy, I get an earworm from it every single time, even if I mute the commercial before the music starts.
The billions of dollars spent on commercials would be much better used for research to actually cure these diseases rather than use drugs to mask the symptoms.
There’s nothing wrong with you, you didn’t write those drug commercials, you wrote advertising for legitimate businesses. I know you, you wouldn’t try to sell something that was a scam or dangerous.
Nice skewering of this commercial, Susan! (I do some of this at my non-Substack website. If anyone's interested in checking it out, just push my first and last names together and add ".com".)
I find it amusing and infuriating that so many pharma commercials use fear to push their wares. The list of potential side effects is much more scary than the condition it's supposed to help with.
I went to a seminar for nurses on pharmacology and they talked about naming drugs—lots have X or Z in the names because people associate those with crossing out or like the Zorro thing. This makes someone more likely to think this drug will solve their problem.
Oh wow....that is super interesting. The psychology of naming a product. 🤔 Thanks for sharing that! VeoZah! 🤣 (It works!)
Do not take Skyrizi if you are allergic to Skyrizi
Pretty sure my penis would fall off if I took half the shit available for me to take 🤣
LOL!
Exactly! Don't forget the side effects! 😂😂
I still have never understood or had anyone able to explain the two bathtubs in the old Cialis commercials.
You mean you and your sweetheart dont having matching clawfoot bathtubs? HA! I agree that I dont get it either. I think they were going for a relaxed moment. I found this:
But honestly, this never occurred to me!
"But where did that mastermind bathtub idea come from? Years of research and planning? Actually, it was a last-minute addition by the original director, Jonathan Darby, who would go on to direct Cialis ads for 5 more years. On a creative whim, he added the bathtub storyboard while on set for the first ad. It struck a chord with the brand managers and with audiences, generating lively discussions online and elsewhere. And the association stuck. As did the voice of actor James Naughton, who has done every Cialis TV ad voiceover since launch.
"Not everyone will like everything, but it created a discussion that is still alive today. We still get calls from consumers with ideas about the bathtubs," said Amy Meadows, consumer marketing brand director at Lilly. Ideas such as what music to play or where to put the bathtubs, she said, although the most frequently mentioned idea is to just use one bathtub."
Thanks for clearing that up. Another mystery solved!
Some how I don’t think a single tub with the couple in it together would pass censors
Agree...it's always interesting to find out what their reasoning is for the creative decisions they make. I never had the thoughts they assumed I would have!
The old Xifaxan commercial for Irritable Bowel Syndrome remains the high (or low) bar for me. 😂 Reminds me of why I don’t miss cable TV. At the moment, none of my streaming services has commercials! 🤞
Oh, my! URGENT Diarrhea ! Yikes! Is it this one? "too hideous for television". 😂😂
https://youtu.be/t2u6iZjRINg?si=0vCPB09eYr3rFrqQ
Haha! No that’s not the one, but it sure works. I think it was the SB commercial: https://youtu.be/3Hnldf3z4bY?si=6jeKouuKsYlbn-vM
I am with you, drug company advertising is unethical and disgusting.
They really are...and evidently, stupid sells. The SNL parody really cracked me up!
Well, we could talk about lawyer ads. Have fun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8_3jS9wd9w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz6wY_15WLA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea_jZfyACGo
OMG! The Hammer! 1-800-WE WILL SUE! 😂 These are hilarious.
I'm so glad you shared them!
In Philly, the lawyer billboards are ubiquitous. FFS.
I used to work for a doctor before TV advertising of drugs was allowed.
Then, the detail people (the drug company sales force) would come to the offices with fancy lunches, contests for trips, stuff for the staff to use, pens, rulers, clocks, REFRIGERATORS, all labeled with
the drug company's name. Probably wads of cash and insider deals for the docs.
Oh, yeah, they'd also fill the drug cabinet with samples of all kinds of good stuff for the staff to use!
We got visits at least twice a week, maybe more often.
So Pharm somehow made all that shit illegal, so they could advertise and make billions more from inane TV spots. Ask your doctor about Chantix! It might not kill you before
lung cancer does.
YES! When I had my agency, we did a bunch of medical work. I would run into the drug reps sometimes. Perfectly coiffed, good looking people with boxes of pastries! And all the "trash and trinkets" like you said... pens, magnets, notepads... I missed the samples, though. Darn! 🤣 The country is so profit driven, we likely wont see an end to this anytime soon, sadly.
I don’t watch much tv but when I do, I’m gobsmacked that most of the commercials are for drugs, some of which are for problems I didn’t even know existed. Like David’s uncle, my dad was a pharmacist. He did not like big pharma especially the reps that came by like snake oil salesmen.
I was in the waiting area having my car serviced this morning. Their tv was on and it was non stop drug commercials. The audience for people who are starting to wear out is daytime TV! UGH. And you're right...I didnt even know eye mites were a thing, so when I saw the commercial, I was amazed. For me it was just really dumb! 😂
Here’s one for you … “ lunchtime already, spaghetti and meatballs, for you and for me, from Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee”
It’s amazing how these commercials are so cheesy and invasive at the same time.
Only 25¢ a serving! Haha! Those were the standard back then... and isnt it funny how iconic mascots have become. We all know the Pillsbury Doughboy for example. Or the Michelin Man!
The jardiance commercial is really the worst. I agree with you. Al Franken has a great rif on these ridiculous drug names.
I am very glad others think the Jardiance commercial is so, so, so, bad. . . I've seen it about 50 times but could not -even if my life depended on it- tell you what the drug does!!??
Your comment proves a very important point in advertising. The creative overshadowed the product. Not good. The agency was not successful in creating the memorability for the drug...in my humble opinion, the weird dancing and singing was so off-putting that it failed miserably. They didnt ask me, though, so.... haha!!
Yes to singing and really weird dancing😳. The first one they did was even worse.
OOOOOHHHH... I gotta look that up. Thanks Rosemary!
XDEMVY Susan lmao wow now they are pushing scrambled alphabet drugs oooph
And if I may further add Goo Goo Gaga would be more intellectual than the word salad that comes from him now so XDEMVY him please 🙏 🤣🤣
God... yes, please. This is going to be a rough 4 years. I dont know if I can take it.
Maybe it’s to treat and silence a certain individual who is prone to nonsensical word salads that seemingly are endless out his mouth. If so then let’s call it a miracle drug lmao 🤣
HAHA!! I mean, who thinks this stuff up!?
Eye mites are actually beneficial. Why do they need to be cured in the first place? Because drug companies and doctors can monetize it.
Exactly! It's ridiculous...they're creating a stir about a problem that isnt really a big problem. Yes, the condition can become harmful....but I found in my reading up on this issue that it's rare!
Thanks, Susan. I just spent an hour looking for eye mites. But we make our own choices, so I can't blame your headline.
I am now cross-eyed as a side effect. I'll need to find a drug for this, which will have side effects, of course, and I'll need a drug for those. Then, I'll need drugs for the side-effects from the drugs that help my other side effects. And then, drugs for those. I'm therefore expecting a very long recovery time.
The SNL skit nailed it.
I didn't spend anywhere near as much time as you did in consumer advertising, but some. It was a gas.
I also spent a lot of time in recruitment advertising. Yep, that was a thing — I don't know if it still is. I was a creative director, so I presented a lot of recruitment advertising campaigns to South San Francisco drug company execs, who were usually nerdy scientists. But none of them were involved in mite drugs. For some reason, the companies that needed creative recruitment advertising seemed to focus on cancer and such, so I enjoyed working with those folks.
And the nerdy scientists/execs, usually CEOs, were... interesting. But cool, too. They're a different breed, though, than the Big Pharma purveyors. They were the researchers.
"Ask your doctor is Susan Speaks is right for you. 😜"
One of the few things we can't overdose on, in my less than humble opinion.
Cross eyed! 😂😂 It’s true, one drug leads to another something or other. After I saw the Mite spot, I wondered how the creative director approached the client… what did the storyboards look like… was their focus group to test the ads effectiveness in an elementary school? Humor is hard because it’s subjective. But being clever is what advertisers should strive for and it’s the toughest to come up with.
I’m glad your doctor prescribes Susan Speaks! No side effects except maybe a laugh. 😂
Comedy is hard because it's mostly about timing, which is a hard thing to guarantee. So if you're in advertising, you sort of need a production track record. Ally & Gargano was able to just walk in and say, "let's do something funny!" Others, not so much. There's still some funny stuff going on but I don't know the names of the good agencies like I used to when I was young.
I'll look forward to discussing the Super Bowl commercials with you... if you watch them, that is. $7 million for one spot. 🙄
Yep, I watch ‘em! :-)
The main Mite (Betsy Sodaro) is in one of my favorite shows, GHOSTS, as a cellar ghost who died of cholera. Probably a step up to play an eye mite! :/
I have to wonder what she got paid to be a mite! 😂 Flo, the gal in the Progressive Insurance ads, is reportedly making over a million a year. And of course, she's typecast for ever....but who cares with that kind of income!
Totally agree Susan! And THAT is what the MUTE button is for! I can’t stand the singing and dancing!!!! lol
And I do use that button! 🤣
The Jardiance commercials drive me crazy, I get an earworm from it every single time, even if I mute the commercial before the music starts.
The billions of dollars spent on commercials would be much better used for research to actually cure these diseases rather than use drugs to mask the symptoms.
You got that right! People hate advertising. Yet that was my career...hmmm...whats wrong with me? 🤣
There’s nothing wrong with you, you didn’t write those drug commercials, you wrote advertising for legitimate businesses. I know you, you wouldn’t try to sell something that was a scam or dangerous.
Never. I'm just not built that way! Thank you Sharon.
💯👍
Nice skewering of this commercial, Susan! (I do some of this at my non-Substack website. If anyone's interested in checking it out, just push my first and last names together and add ".com".)
I find it amusing and infuriating that so many pharma commercials use fear to push their wares. The list of potential side effects is much more scary than the condition it's supposed to help with.
Thats the truth...about half of the time was spent listing possible side effects. I'll go to your site! Thanks!