The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Merck's human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Gardasil for the U.S. market in June 2006. As CMD previously reported at length, Merck launched an aggressive PR and advertising campaign to support Gardasil, even before the FDA approval, aware that GlaxoSmithKline had a competing vaccine in the wings. But GSK's Cervarix vaccine has hit snags in the U.S. In December, GSK was told that the FDA would not approve the application without further information. While recent guesses put a Cervarix entry into the U.S. market in 2009, The Financial Times is now reporting that "GSK said it had decided to await completion of a pivotal clinical trial to be filed with the US regulator during the first half of next year." This will push FDA approval well into 2010. Cervarix has been approved for sale in 67 countries and the BBC recently reported that the U.K. has chosen Cervarix over Gardasil for its HPV vaccination program.

Reacting to a report that revealed American cigarette exports to Iran have risen tenfold during George W. Bush's time in office, Republican presidential candidate John McCain commented, "Maybe that's a way of killing 'em." He followed this by saying, "I meant that as a joke, as a person who hasn't had a cigarette in 28 years, 29 years." McCain's public joke about killing Iranians was the second of his campaign. Last year at a South Carolina campaign stop, when he was asked if there was a plan to attack Iran, McCain responded by saying "You know that old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran?" He then sang "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran" before discussing what he believed to be the serious threat Iran poses to Israel's national security.

Eli Lilly has been fined A$60,000 for issuing a media release promoting a version of its erectile dysfunction drug Cialis despite an Australian ban on direct-to-consumer advertising. In April Eli Lilly released Cialis Once-a-Day. To coincide with its launch, the company issued a media release headlined "New research reveals scheduled sex a turn-off," which promoting the results of a Lilly-commissioned opinion poll. The poll claimed that 74 per cent of Australian men said "spontaneity ... is an important part of sex." The Australian Consumers Association and Dr. Ken Harvey lodged complaints under the self-regulatory code of conduct operated by the drug industry's peak body, Medicines Australia. The Australian's health editor, Adam Creswell, reports that the minutes of the code of conduct committee state that Lilly's media release "included overly positive statements about the benefits of once-a-day treatment."

Advertisers are increasingly writing swear words into television commercial scripts just so they can bleep them out. The practice, which has been especially noticeable on YouTube, gives viewers a strong illusion of authenticity by creating scenes that appear to be "real life moments." Writing bleeped swear words into a script grabs viewers' attention, and the millions of people who have been downloading YouTube advertisements that contain bleeped swear words proves the effectiveness of the strategy. This is an example of advertisers using prohibition as a "persuasive branding technique." In other words, they know that making something seem forbidden increases its appeal. Movie makers apply the same strategy when they include an extra track of out-takes, bloopers and mistakes on movie DVDs. This makes the movie seem more "real" to people, and draws more viewers to it. Manufacturing fake reality can have drawbacks, though. When discovered, it can backfire and people will rebel against it. Authentic authenticity is still the best.