So I’m watching a network TV newscast the other night – the place where old people go to die in their sleep apparently based on the number of old peoples’ drug ads that appear therein – and I must not be there yet because I stayed awake long enough to see a commercial for a Crest toothpaste “selected for people over 50.”
Hey, I’m one of them. And I still have all my teeth. So I went on the web to search further and found a Procter & Gamble news release that read as follows (the highlights are mine):
I just turned 61. So 11 years ago, when I became “over 50,” did I suddenly need to be treated with softness? Because that didn’t happen.
And it shouldn’t have.
I looked all over for any data to back up these claims by Procter & Gamble. I couldn’t find any.
If the company wants to provide any, we’ll be more than happy to scrutinize them.
Fair and balanced…and over 50…and feeling a need for softness.
Opinions on other issues in news, journals, PR, advertising, marketing
The tale of two “negative” studies. Or, how spin is applied to make research findings look more impressive. A must read. https://johnmandrola.substack.com/p/the-tale-of-two-negative-studies
The @nytimes chose to interview one of the editors of the @AnnalsofIM (publisher of this paper) who "gushed with extraordinary glee: It’s huge! There are very few things that reduce your mortality by 30%."
Turns out coffee is not one of those few things despite all that glee. https://twitter.com/garyschwitzer/status/1533202075928215558
Comments (4)
Please note, comments are no longer published through this website. All previously made comments are still archived and available for viewing through select posts.
Jan Henderson
December 5, 2012 at 8:35 pmI had the same reaction to that ad, namely, that there was probably zero evidence for the over 50 claim and it was just marketing. We can only hope the public is increasingly skeptical and has wised up to such tactics. There’s a nice discussion of how pharma marketing works in a book I’m just reading, Drugs for Life: How Pharmaceutical Companies Define Our Health by Joseph Dumit. (& I know what you mean about that network :-) )
jimmy
December 11, 2012 at 10:33 amI don’t see any problem with this…..it is silly to think a brush or paste is specially formulated for someone older than 50yrs but marketing is marketing. Did you ever wonder where the yellow went?
Our Comments Policy
But before leaving a comment, please review these notes about our policy.
You are responsible for any comments you leave on this site.
This site is primarily a forum for discussion about the quality (or lack thereof) in journalism or other media messages (advertising, marketing, public relations, medical journals, etc.) It is not intended to be a forum for definitive discussions about medicine or science.
We will delete comments that include personal attacks, unfounded allegations, unverified claims, product pitches, profanity or any from anyone who does not list a full name and a functioning email address. We will also end any thread of repetitive comments. We don”t give medical advice so we won”t respond to questions asking for it.
We don”t have sufficient staffing to contact each commenter who left such a message. If you have a question about why your comment was edited or removed, you can email us at feedback@healthnewsreview.org.
There has been a recent burst of attention to troubles with many comments left on science and science news/communication websites. Read “Online science comments: trolls, trash and treasure.”
The authors of the Retraction Watch comments policy urge commenters:
We”re also concerned about anonymous comments. We ask that all commenters leave their full name and provide an actual email address in case we feel we need to contact them. We may delete any comment left by someone who does not leave their name and a legitimate email address.
And, as noted, product pitches of any sort – pushing treatments, tests, products, procedures, physicians, medical centers, books, websites – are likely to be deleted. We don”t accept advertising on this site and are not going to give it away free.
The ability to leave comments expires after a certain period of time. So you may find that you’re unable to leave a comment on an article that is more than a few months old.
You might also like