The latest
non-smoking ad was talked about around the dinner table last night, but
perhaps not in the way the makers had intended. If you haven’t caught
up with it yet, this new anti-smoking ad has a real community
announcement feel. The message is “Go to your doctor to help you give
up smoking!” Yet, there…in the corner…is the Glaxo logo.

It
doesn’t take an Einstein to work out that Glaxo must sell anti-smoking
products. Actually, a quick Google search gives an overview of the
recent merger that netted Glaxo Wellcome the corner in non-smoking
products, with both Nicorette (nicotine gum) and NicoDerm (transdermal
patches). Surprise, surprise.

If I was a doctor I would be
incensed at any drug company blatantly leveraging off my professional
esteem to sell their products. With this ad campaign Glaxo are
“anchoring” this whole idea of giving up smoking, getting
the doctor’s endorsement and bundling it all to the Glaxo brand with
this very sneaky type of advertising.

Alternative medicine is
one of the fastest growing industries in the west. More then 30% of
health spending is now in alternate medical areas. Why is that rising?
It is an indicator of both relevance and esteem issues for traditional
medicine.

AMA where are you? You should be up in arms! The
whole medical fraternity now looks like a drug company’s lackey. This
is about esteem and relevance and both are getting eroded by this
liaison, which, as an image architect, I know is the fore-runner of
“brand” death and irrelevancy.

You need to take immediate action
and distance yourself from these kinds of ads. Don’t let your brand be
associated with anything outside of the area of your control and the
control of the AMA.