PostScript was delighted to discover DTC-In-Perspective, a blog by the CEO of the company of the same name. DTC is one of those publishing, conference/training, and consulting companies that specializes in soaking pharma for pricey analysis of its own behavior -- in this case direct to consumer advertising. Bob Ehrlich, the aforementioned CEO, ought to know whereof he speaks. Bob is the guy who brought us Lipitor. That is, he advertised the heck out of it when he was VP Consumer Marketing for Parke-Davis. For that, Advertising Age named Bob one of the top 50 marketers in the US.
But all that marketing was strictly educational, right? Not really. Here's Bob this week: "Drug marketing is designed to sell drugs. Ok, I said it. It is not usually to educate objectively... Does all this drug marketing create demand for products that may have cheaper equally effective alternatives? I am sure it does."
Thanks for confirming, Bob. We couldn't have said it better.