Advertising Age: Combating Counterfeit Drugs

“In the U.K., a Rat Makes a Graphic Point”

In an article, which appeared in July, 2009, Advertising Age published a story about Big Pharma using mass media and advertising to draw public awareness to the deadly issue of counterfeit drugs.

Specifically, it discusses Pfizer and its adverstising agency, Universal McCann’s shocking campaign to lead the fight against the availbility of counterfeit drugs on the internet.

The following are some of the highlights from the piece:

· Counterfeit drugs not only cost drug companies a lot of money each year but also can cause long-term side effects or in some cases death. Drug company Pfizer and its agency, Universal McCann, decided to take the lead in fighting against the availability of counterfeit drugs on the internet and shock people into taking the problem more seriously.

· A multiplatform campaign ran in the U.K. with the central image of a rat coming out of a person's mouth. The "regurgitated rat" campaign was rolled out across TV, cinema and print. In order to reach those most likely to be purchasing counterfeit drugs, the online community, Pfizer redirected users searching under health and medical terms to a website that offered more information.

Secure Pharma Chain Blog, endorses the concept of using all mass media outlets to raise awareness of this deadly crime within the general public and all health care consumers.

To read the entire story in Advertising Age, visit: http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=137812.