Comments on: Have You Seen Our Ad?

By: Mike McDowell

Mike McDowell — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 05:35:52 +0000

Congrats, Steve. I believe you’re right. The truck is real!

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 00:50:14 +0000

My wife and I are having a disagreement about the green Ford pick-up truck in the Symbicort ad. She says it’s a computer-generated truck and I say it’s real. Who’s right?

By: Dove for Men and Oprah – Sponsorship Fail? « Mike My Words – from the brain of Mike McDowell

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 08:05:40 +0000

[...] I’ve posted before, there are some marketing and advertising placement decisions that just don’t make sense, [...]

By: kinggame

kinggame — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 01:50:03 +0000

Well, thanks for the info Debra! First, I don’t, and didn’t, truly believe it was just for the elderly. If you found my comments offensive, I regret that, but I thought I was clear I didn’t have any idea about the disease. I still don’t really, but I now I have a vague concept, thanks to your quick explanation. Still, I would hazard to guess it does occur to the elderly more often than the young, if only because the old are more likely to be former or current smokers, and because most ailments occur more frequently in seniors.

Secondly, good for your dad and many of his friends. That kind of attitude toward technology is healthy and admirable. Despite their communicative prowess, the fact remains that young people really are more open to technology as a whole and the Internet in particular, even to the point of being to their own detriment, one could argue. Whether it is online shopping, banking, or even just chatting, their is a difference in comfort levels that can be measured demographically. You can’t apply these assumptions to individuals, but they do exist for groups as a whole.

Third, thanks for your reply.

Mike, I completely agree that that it was a bad magazine selection. Awful. Woof! SI is getting murdered, and you can get ad space that directly targets (sorry, Debra) older, sports-watching men. That’s how they should be doing it.

By: Debra Kennelly

Debra Kennelly — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 01:04:21 +0000

This is directed to kinggame: COPD is Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. You are very mistaken if you truely believe that it is an elderly person’s disease. Any age can have it. Most people that I know that have it, are current or former smokers, although that is not the only reason a person can have COPD. I would suggest you do your homework a little before you make statements like the one’s you made. By the way, my dad is 80 (next week) and he uses the internet daily, like many of his friends.

By: Mike McDowell

Mike McDowell — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:34:41 +0000

I considered that, too. But my issue is more with the major disconnect with advertising to an audience watching a football game, and featuring a man working on his truck, and then referring them to Ladies Home Journal. Let’s be realistic, the viewer is almost entirely male. Ladies Home Journal? How many of these guys have a Ladies Home Journal or would ever be purchasing a Ladies Home Journal? Refer them to an ad in a magazine targeted in a men’s magazine.

By: kinggame

kinggame — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:51:17 +0000

I have no idea what COPD is, but if it’s something that is more likely to target the elderly it’s another reason to refer to a magazine rather than the Internet. It’s stereotyping to say, but a good percentage of seniors really are still very uncomfortable with almost anything online.

By: Mike McDowell

Mike McDowell — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:08:57 +0000

I wish somebody knew the actual answer to that question: “Is it required to have a print ad version of your ad if you’re a drug company running a TV ad?”

I’ll try to do some investigation and post a follow up.

By: Ryan Jerz

Ryan Jerz — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:41:44 +0000

I think the Anon Guy is right. Every single prescription drug that is advertised on TV has a “See our ad in XXX” somewhere, so it must be required to be printed somewhere. And if you’ve ever actually seen one of the ads in a magazine, you’d realize that they’re probably really expensive. They take up two full pages or more with all the stuff they have to print. So they may forgo demographics and choose the cheapest on that fulfills the requirement.

By: Mike McDowell

Mike McDowell — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:09:57 +0000

I had considered that, too. You’d figure that the requirement to house more information would be fulfilled with referring people to their website. It’s probably more difficult to find an issue of Ladies Home Journal, and then thumb through for the ad than it is to find an Internet connection. If that is an FDA policy – it surely is an odd and outdated one.