Americans are awed by celebrities. That’s why drug companies love to have people like Sally Field selling the osteoporosis drug Boniva.
Dorothy Hamill was another famous personality enlisted to advertise drugs. The Olympic ice skating champion promoted the ill-fated arthritis medicine, Vioxx. And football coach Mike Ditka urged men to “take the Levitra challenge” to solve erectile dysfunction.
One might argue that although Sally Field, Dorothy Hamill and Mike Ditka are high-profile personalities, they have no particular medical expertise. Why should we take their advice to ask our doctors for the pills in their ads?
On the other hand, Dr. Robert Jarvik has a medical degree. As the inventor of the Jarvik artificial heart, he seems to have an enormous amount of credibility regarding heart disease. When Dr. Jarvik tells us that he takes Lipitor and encourages viewers to “ask your doctor; don’t wait,” people take him seriously.
But Dr. Jarvik has kicked up an enormous amount of controversy with one of his TV commercials. It opens with his name and credential underneath a man rowing across a beautiful lake. This is no rowboat, but a racing scull that exemplifies fitness. We even see a close-up of Dr. Jarvik rowing energetically.
Trouble is, Dr. Jarvik doesn’t actually row a scull in this commercial–or in real life. The ad agency hired a stunt double to do the rowing. The creators of the ad went to a fair amount of trouble to give the impression that Dr. Jarvik is a rowing enthusiast, even filming him rowing.
The cat was let out of the bag by a rowing club newsletter in Seattle, Washington. One of their members had been chosen to do the ad, purportedly because he is roughly the same size as Robert Jarvik and has a similarly receding hairline. Unlike Jarvik, however, he is an expert rower. Dr. Jarvik’s rowing was reportedly done on an apparatus, not a real boat.
There’s another problem with the Jarvik commercials. Even though he did invent an artificial heart, Dr. Jarvik is not a cardiologist and doesn’t even practice medicine.
Americans hate deception. Perhaps that is why Congress is investigating whether the Jarvik commercials are misleading.
If truth be told, a great many prescription drug ads are confusing, if not downright deceptive. For one thing, the actors are almost always upbeat and enthusiastic, whether they are talking about erectile dysfunction or osteoporosis.
When it comes time for the disclosure of side effects required by law, people on the screen are frequently having a great time. The video distracts from the scary message being delivered and the voice sounds soothing and reassuring.
Even when a drug can cause dizziness, drowsiness, fainting, nausea, vomiting, headache or muscle pain and weakness, everyone seems cheery and unconcerned. Most of the side effects such medicines can cause aren’t even mentioned.
It’s time Congress told the FDA to get these commercials off the air. Only the U.S. and New Zealand permit such direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs. Let’s just say NO to drug ads and rely on practicing doctors, not celebrities, to tell us which medicines are right for us.
