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Posts Tagged ‘Worth Billions’

Mar
29

Open a newspaper or a magazine, sit down to watch the television and you are guaranteed to find an advert for an erectile dysfunction (ED) drug. It’s like clockwork and confirms the underlying reality. The market for a treatment for ED is worth billions of dollars a year. More importantly, as the male population ages, the incidence of ED rises. It’s one of those facts of life. Older men have more problems. Given the crest of the baby boom is still a few years away, the estimate is that, come 2025, there will be 300 million men in the US wanting treatment for ED. If you think the scramble to maintain brand recognition is tough now. You wait for the next fifteen years to unravel. It’s going to get really brutal as all the manufacturers fight for a slice of the pie.

Which leads us to the thorny question of the controls over what the advertizers can say about their product. Let’s start with the time of day. Many parents have been distressed that the adverts air on television during the afternoon and early evening when their children are watching. This leads to embarrassing moments as these naturally curious youngsters ask their parents to explain what erections are. As it stands, there are no formal limits on when these adverts can air. It’s for the television stations to make editorial decisions. After all, everyone is in this business for the money so, if you have a vacant slot on a show to sell, you usually take the money from an advertizer no matter what is for sale. That’s capitalism for you. Significantly, all the cost of this pharmaceutical advertizing is tax deductible. So, guess what. All the advertizing dollars get added to the price of the drugs you buy and this adds to the overall cost of healthcare. If the Administration is serious about cutting health costs, all it has to do is ban television advertising and, overnight, the cost of the drugs drops.

So when the television ads air, what exactly do we see and hear. The standard slots vary between 40 and 60 seconds in length. The images are usually of couples doing things together. They may be walking hand-in-hand along a beach, riding bicycles or doing some work in the yard. It’s not considered appropriate to show real people in flagrante delicto. They must be caught in romantic moments suggesting the possibility of sexual activity later – assuming they are not too tired after digging up the yard. But the words list all the side effects and then mention how great viagra is as a treatment for ED. The FDA regulates pharmaceutical ads and requires the content to show “fair balance”. So what you hear is written by lawyers trying to avoid sanctions imposed by the FDA. In other words, “fair balance” means telling the consumer about both the benefits and the risks of each drug. It’s not too alarming to hear you may get a headache if you buy viagra. Some of the other drugs, say for treating rheumatism, list fatal side effects. So let’s keep this particular sales pitch simple. Viagra is the best of the ED drugs and it gets great results almost every time.

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Mar
10

Wherever you look, you are guaranteed sight of an ad for a weight loss product or service. It can be a careful pitch from a local aerobics class or an over-the-top claim for a “natural” product that you can eat as much as you like and still lose weight. This evidences a sad truth. As millions of us grow steadily more overweight, there are thousands of companies and tens of thousands of products and services that target us. The intention is to exploit our fears and insecurities, and so extract the maximum amount of dollars from us. This business is worth billions every year and, truth be told, the first thing that gets lost in the marketing is the truth. Although the FDA has a specific department tasked with policing the advertizing of all weight-loss products, it has been consistently underfunded and is completely unable to stay on top of the flood of ads that compete for our attention. Similarly, the majority of states have “false claims” laws that allow action to be taken against any seller or service provider exaggerating the quality, effectiveness or value of their product or service. But states are often reluctant to interfere in the “free market” and leave it to individuals to claim they have been cheated by the companies.

As an example of the problems affecting all of us, let’s look at the activities of Basic Research and ThinCare International. These two linked companies are based in Utah but sell online to all US states. Their sales pitch is simple. If you take two pills before your main meal, you will lose weight no matter how much you eat. Better still, this is effortless weight loss and guaranteed even though you never stir from the couch. Instead of the conventional wisdom, “No pain, no gain!” (or should that be loss?), there’s no need to exercise. The pounds just drop off your body thanks to the chemical wizardry of these companies. What has made this ad campaign so successful has been the presence of Jillian Michaels as brand ambassador. Ms Michaels appears on the reality show, “The Biggest Loser”, as a personal trainer to the contestants as they sweat and groan their way towards cash and other prizes for losing weight. In this role, her reputation depends on a clear and consistent message. If you want to lose weight, you have to be disciplined in exercising and eating healthy food. For her to endorse an “effortless” product therefore looks less than completely honest.

It is significant that the two companies and the FDA are already engaged in court battles. The companies allege the FDA is wrong in rejecting their “scientific” evidence of effectiveness. To that litigation, you can now add false claims actions in California and Utah. Of course, you can take the cynical line that everyone knows ads always exaggerate the truth. Anyone who buys a product based on the marketing deserves to lose his or her money. Except there comes a point when the law has to step in and say, “Enough!” It seems this point has been reached with these products. It will be for Ms Michaels to defend her reputation. All of which bring us to phentermine hcl which has quietly been selling for decades as the best of the real drugs designed to support weight loss. It makes no exaggerated claims. Its effectiveness is supported by real scientific evidence. When you buy phentermine online, you are buying a successful product. Honest!

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