Name a prescription drug in a TV ad, and you also take to name all the side effects.
But if you talk about a condition rather than a drug, you can dispense with the side-effect blab out and transmit people to a Web site � which in turn promotes your drug.
So-called �unbranded mathematical product advertising� has been around for a while. But with direct-to-consumer drug ads facing scrutiny recently, the soft sell is having a revival, the WSJ reports.
In a single week, Sanofi-Aventis�s �silence your rooster� ads (pictured) drove 400,000 people to this Web site that advertises the company�s sleeping pill Ambien.
And Pfizer, whose smoking-cessation drug Chantix has come under scrutiny for psychiatric side effects, has recently revived ads that send people to mytimetoquit.com.
The site gives readers lots of options to �learn about a prescription treatment option� � which turns out to mean clicking through to the Chantix Web site.
The campaign isn�t designed to circumvent FDA rules, Pfizer spokeswoman Sally Beatty tells the WSJ. �My Time to Quit is designed to encourage people who are thinking about quitting to speak to their health-care provider about the benefits of quitting smoking and available treatment options,� she said.
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