"Tell Someone" and "One Less" campaigns

I'm sure many of you have heard or seen the "Tell Someone" Campaign that was launched on television and in print ads this summer. The "Tell Someone" campaign, funded by Merck, was promoted to increase awareness surrounding a link between HPV virus and cervical cancer. Little did I know, that when this campaign was originally launched, Merck was in the works of creating a vaccine to cure the HPV virus and was in the process of seeking FDA approval. Mentioning the vaccine in an ad before it was licensed would have violated FDA guidelines, so in order to get around those rules, they came up with a campaign that merely informed and educated viewers about the dangers of the virus.

In November this year, Merck's drug was finally FDA approved and the company came out with a drug called Gardasil which claimed to cure this disease. They started a new campaign called the "One Less" campaign (as in 'one less' life affected by cervical cancer.

I'm not sure about the ethics surrounding the campaigns but I do think this was a great move on Merck's advertising department. In order to increase sales, they had to inform the general public of a problem and a need for a drug to cure that problem. By creating a frenzy and concern about the HPV virus, Merck was able to capitalize on this panic and introduce a drug to solve the problem. Since they were not allowed to mention Gardasil until it was licensed, Merck did a great job of working its way around the rules.

For more informations check out http://www.vaccineethics.org/2006/05/more-on-mercks-tell-someone-hpv.html

-Sri Reddy