Saturday, November 02, 2013

Atrial Fibrillation

Or A-Fib.  Like A-Rod, but less annoying.  Like Low-T, except A-Fib is an actual condition and Low-T is some bogus scenario made up by the pharmaceutical industry in order to sell products like AndroGel.  Or as Bristol Myers Squibb writes it, "AFib (not caused by a heart valve problem)".  The one caused by a bad heart valve is, apparently, a different kind of AFib.  Ask your doctor if Eliquis is right for you*.

Just so we're clear, I don't have it.  But I'm constantly barraged by an advertisement on television promoting a drug called Eliquis for the treatment of A-Fib.  And I can't stay silent any longer.

Worst ad in the history of the world.

Interestingly enough, most ads can be found on U-Tube.  Not this one.  I had to scrounge around til I found a Bristol Myers Squibb site that shows it, followed by several thousand words designed to scare the shit out of anybody who actually takes Eliquis.  Click here to see the ad.

For starters, I think it's an appalling example of direct to consumer pharmaceutical advertising.   But that horse left the barn a long time ago.  I'll not beat it any further.

Second, what's with the camera angles?  Who the hell is the guy talking to?  One of most fundamentally inept ads you'll ever see.  Makes, by comparison, the ad campaign of the idiot upstate car dealer who's always saying "huuuuge" look positively sophisticated.

Third, what's with that kid's jump shot?  Does no one, during the casting of an ad that requires the playing of basketball, ask to see the kid's jump shot before hiring him?  It's embarrassing.

Finally, what kind of a name is Eliquis?  Were all the good drug names taken?

Here are some tweets I came across when I googled Eliquis ...


This Eliquis commercial makes me wanna throw a basketball at the TV
5:10pm, October 7th 2013


The people in this Eliquis commercial are the worst people on Earth. I may be overstating that…but probably not.
4:10pm, October 6th 2013


The ad for Eliquis makes me sad: always hoped the lady from "Head of the Class" would win up with Billy Connolly. Hessman's a too-wild horse
1:10pm, October 6th 2013



Eliquis commercial predicated upon patients self doctoring and medicating. "My doctor gave me something, but I figured I know more than him"
1:10pm, October 6th 2013


Anyone think the young guy in the Eliquis commercial looks kinda like Tristan?
8:09pm, September 30th 2013



Eliquis commercial is scary. 70s teen grows into modern day geezer. #signs!'mgettingold #thisis39
6:09pm, September 22nd 2013


The man on this Eliquis commercial said it's causes less bleeding than the other meds, then says "may cause fatal bleeding" WTF
3:09pm, September 22nd 2013



Who the hell is the guy in this Eliquis ad talking to?
5:09pm, September 21st 2013

The first actually useful thing I've ever encountered on Twitter.  But that's another story.

Oh, and one last thing.  The bottom is dropping out of Eliquis sales.  Down 60%.  I've been out of the Big Pharma business too long to have any sense of why this is happening, but that fucking ad can't be helping.

UPDATE:  I have a theory about the jumpy camera.  When they got on set, they realized that the actor they hired to do most of the talking was such an insufferable windbag that they needed something to take the attention away from his horrendous line readings.  Thus the visual confusion.  I find his delivery of the first several lines particularly annoying.

* See our ad in Golf Magazine

3 Comments:

Blogger Cal Sand said...

Oh my. I'm so happy that there is a post about this. I just saw the wretched commercial for the third time. Yes, it IS bad enough to actually google and comment on. The old guy is a total douche! So obnoxious. I feel sorry for the "wife". Apparently she just sits there looking indulgent and vapid while the arrogant, self important codger blathers on. He "ups his game"...by taking different prescriptions than those originally prescribed to him by his doctor...what!

1:09 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Aren't blood thinning agents dangerous? Eliquis even if it wasn't a "blood thinner", is dangerous... It makes me want to shoot my TV.

8:04 PM  
Blogger Concerned nurse said...

Why does this commercial say the product is for DVT blood clots and PE blood clots when a DVT and a PE already says blood clots!! PE is pulmonary embolis (embolis is blood clot) and DVT is deep vein thrombosis( thrombosis is blood clot)!!!! So that is like saying it treats pulmonary blood clot blood clots!! Or deep vein blood clot blood clots!!! I can't stand this commercial and now have to mute it when it is on!!

10:32 PM  

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