Ads That Work... Too Well?

Quick one today, because I'm fighting off illness and over scheduled. (Also, no image, because various forces are messing with me hard, the way that always happens when you are fighting off a bug. Not appreciated.)

Does anyone else consider the timing of the American Medical Association's call for a ban on broadcast ads for over-the-counter (OTC) medications curious?

I'm probably overstating this on the simplicity, but I think it's a simple case of OTC ads taking up the place of daily fantasy sports sites on NFL ads.

You remember those, right? They were only on every 90 seconds for the better part of two months, so much so that public irritation with the businesses probably accelerated the legal action brought against them in many states. (Well, that and the fact that the sites are clearly gambling, and corrupt, and only were made legal through a lobbying loophole. But I digress.)

Ads on NFL games are many things. Wildly expensive. Shown to tens of millions of viewers. Not skippable, because interest in the game is real time only, for the most part. 30 to 60 seconds long, an eternity in an attention deficit age. The last bankable mass audience. And incredibly memorable, because they are just about the only ads that anyone sees and remembers now.

There's pros and cons of OTC ads. Some studies have shown that patients are better at sticking to a program when they are more bought in, and that the ads do that. Others believe that this is a consumer segment in dire need of legislation and change, with political figures making the industry a target. The ads themselves can seem off-putting, especially when you get into the side effects. And as we've already established, the ads are being viewed.

That's the nature of spotlights; everything is revealed, and there's nowhere to hide. I wouldn't be at all surprised if, like DFS before it, OTC pharma is making the right move in the short term, and the wrong for the long.

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