Pfizer and Chantix: Stealth advertising at its finest
Can an ad promote a drug even if it doesn't mention the drug by name? That's the topic we tackle in the video at right—the fifth installment in our AdWatch series of drug advertising critiques. The commercial highlights a smoking-cessation Web site called MyTimeToQuit.com, and it looks in many ways like a public-service announcement, at least initially. But wait—a logo at the end of the commercial reveals that it's sponsored by Pfizer. And the MyTimetoQuit site includes links that ultimately lead you to the Web site for Chantix (varenicline), Pfizer’s blockbuster smoking-cessation drug.
If this sounds a little sneaky to you, well, we think it is. But it’s also totally legal, and representative of a growing trend in direct-to-consumer advertising: the “help-seeking ad.” These are ads that, instead of mentioning a drug by name, address the condition it’s meant to treat–then drive you to a Web site or toll-free number that offers, among other information, the option to learn about a “prescription treatment option.” (For two other prime examples, see www.FibroCenter.com and www.PsoriasisConnect.com.)
Help-seeking ads can come in handy for drugs that have a particularly nasty list of side effects, since not mentioning the drug by name means you don’t have to list the side effects either, according to the U.S Food and Drug Administration. And Chantix, though remarkably effective, can have some bad side effects. A series of adverse-event reports to the FDA after Chantix came on the market linked the drug to “serious neuropsychiatric symptoms,” including “changes in behavior, agitation, depressed mood, suicidal ideation and attempted and completed suicide” among people who took the drug. It hasn’t been determined whether the drug alone caused those events. But the reports prompted an update to Chantix’s label in January 2008, to include a warning about the drug's potential psychiatric effects.
It gets stickier. The studies Pfizer did to get Chantix approved excluded people with any history of depression, bipolar disorder, or serious mental illness—groups with high rates of smoking, and the very people for whom Chantix might be riskiest, since it acts on certain processes in the brain. That might account for the number of adverse reactions that didn’t come to light until after the drug came on the market. And hence, the need for a change in advertising direction.
What should you take from all of this? When you see an ad or Web site with that PSA-like tone, listen or look to see who’s sponsoring it. If it’s a drug company, and you decide to visit the site, realize that the information, however useful, is there to help promote a drug. And be wary of the interactive options that these sites offer. For example, a Share Your Story section on the FibroCenter site requires you to sign a release basically allowing Pfizer to change your whole story to make it more “commercially viable.” So much for an authentic online community.
As for the My Time to Quit commercial, one place it does get it right is in portraying how very difficult it is to stop smoking. If you’re facing that arduous and admirable task, you can find independent, unbiased advice on all available treatments at Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (including a free interactive PDA tool). Subscribers to ConsumerReportsHealth.org can view our Treatment Ratings. And if you decide to consider Chantix, make sure that you tell your doctor about any personal or family history of depression or other mental illness. Good luck.
—Jamie Kopf Hirsh, associate editor
Posted by: diane | Nov 16, 2009 6:18:14 PM
Staying in touch with your doctor does not mean it is safe and you can escape the bad side effects....my husband and I quit at the same time...he took Chantix and I quit cold turkey. He only took it for 6 weeks and was done with smoking...that was the good part. We have been married 18 years and I have watched his mood and behavior change since taking this drug....it has been almost 1 1/2 years and the effects have not lessened or subsided. He is moody, terrible temper, apathetic with me and our 2 children, bi-polar or psychotic...we argue a lot and he sincerely does not think he is wrong, he also remembers a completely different situation....if the kids or I ask him why he said or did something....he stares at us like we are aliens. How do you join a class action lawsuit or get a doctors help for someone when they think the world has gone crazy and they are perfectly fine? I honestly think I would rather have my husband back smoking than this smoke free person that I no longer recognize.
Posted by: vicki | Jul 6, 2009 12:25:07 AM
the side effects of smoking are well documented. we all know someone with emphysema or who has died from heart disease or lung cancer. The devil you do, or the devil you don't?
Posted by: Emily | May 11, 2009 11:05:11 PM
Thanks for the video, very good.
As someone involved in tobacco reduction, I would like to mention that half of the side effects mentioned in this video are also associated with smoking withdrawal - that is, agitation and depression. It is important to be informed about smoking withdrawal symptoms as well as medication side effects.
Posted by: Tina | Apr 29, 2009 9:08:24 PM
I've been on Chantix for almost 2 weeks and have been smoke free for almost 1 week. Smoking tasted gross even on day one. I'm taking 1 1mg pill in the am and then .5 in the afternoon... This is because I'm honestly afraid the side effects I'm experiencing may be long term or even permanent. It also feels strong enough for me.
I have not felt depressed, but moreso like my life is blowing by me in a soft breeze. Also nausea, anxious, joint pain, vivid dreams that I jolt out of, some ear pain and really scary chest pain. I stopped at a campus police car that I saw drive up to ask a question and realized that I was standing next to an empty car! I drop things and am generally disoriented all day long.
I have thought to myself that I should seriously stop Chantix ASAP, but I'm going to drudge on through each lethargic day until I no longer can handle it ... ... It beats smoking!
Posted by: Brandon Campbell | Mar 6, 2009 8:40:29 AM
I took the drug and am still suffering side effects of it a year and a few months later. I guess there is potential for complications with anything, but one would think once the drug is completely out of your system things would go back to normal, but as with me that is not true. I started back smoking and now I have 2 problems. Good luck to anyone who tries it. It's like playing Russian roulette. Just hope you don't catch the bullet. Unfortunately, the same can be said for smoking which is why I took the drug to begin with. If I had to do it all over again I would have chosen another method of trying to quit.
Posted by: richard levy | Feb 23, 2009 4:00:16 PM
Thank you to Consumer Reports and Jamie Kopf Hirsh for informing the public about this sneaky method of advertising. My favorite part is "This video is sponsored by no one!"
Posted by: bill | Feb 18, 2009 9:37:31 PM
If this information is free on your site, what is my incentive to subscribe? Please tell me, Kevin. Thanks.
Posted by: John Zieman | Feb 18, 2009 5:45:24 PM
I have a friend who quite the first time she tried - amazing! - using Chantix. She did not want to kill herself, but all her friends did want to kill her, she was extremely irritating and unrelentingly abrasive. Still, I have friends who were extremely annoying while trying to quit via other methods, and failed repeatedly.
Posted by: chris | Feb 18, 2009 11:05:00 AM
You left out the word potential when talking of side effects. Not every one who uses chantix well be suicidal. I used it for 3 months and only had vivid dreams. Yes some were nightmares but I never put my shotgun in my mouth. Chantix is very, VERY effective for stopping smoking.
The biggest hurdle is deciding to try to quit. Because I had done it once before I knew how hard it was. I would become anxious just thinking about quiting. Its that hard.
When several friends and co-workers decided to take chantix to quit I kept an eye on their progress. I decided if it worked out for them I would give it a shot. Seeing how easy it went for them is what gave me the guts to give it a shot. It's been eleven months since my last smoke.
I don't care how Chantix advertises. As long as a person talks about it with their doctor and stays in close contact with their Doc during the process it should be fine.
Posted by: AmbroseP | Feb 17, 2009 8:20:17 PM
The "stealth" DTC ads used by gargantuan pharmaceutical companies are not a recent phenomenon.
The editor is spot on with their short blurb:
"Help-seeking ads can come in handy for drugs that have a particularly nasty list of side effects, since not mentioning the drug by name means you don’t have to list the side effects either, according to the U.S Food and Drug Administration."
Aside from not having to mention side effects, pharmaceutical companies almost always strategically leave out their drug names when they are the market leader/innovator (i.e. the patent is still alive and kicking).
Remember the "ask about the purple pill" ads? This is no different.