Pfizer Pulls Deceptive Lipitor Ads [1]
Submitted by Anne Landman [2] on
Drug maker Pfizer [3] yielded to pressure from a Congressional committee and pulled deceptive Lipitor [4] ads featuring Dr. Robert Jarvik. In one of the ads, created by the Kaplan Thaler Group, Dr. Jarvik is shown apparently rowing a boat, but the rowing was in fact done by a stunt double. In the ads, Dr. Jarvik also claims to be a user of Lipitor, but he didn't actually start taking the medication until after he was hired by Pfizer to promote it. The House Committee was also concerned that the ads presented Dr. Jarvik as offering the public medical advice, when in reality he is not a medical doctor, but a medical engineer.