Valentine’s Day is much more closely associated with the floristry and confectionery industries than with medicine and pharmaceuticals.

I’m sure some Australian general practitioners celebrate Valentine’s Day in their private lives, but red roses, hearts and chocolate don’t typically come to mind when they are writing prescriptions in mid-February.

For some reason, the Australian arm of the global pharmaceutical giant Pfizer must see things otherwise. In the latest (February 12) edition of Australian Doctor, a weekly news magazine for GPs, Pfizer has tried to leverage Valentine’s Day to promote two of its blockbuster brands. Like the TV advertisements produced just for the SuperBowl in the US, these print ads have been created especially for the February 12 issue and will be shelved and not seen again for 12 months, if ever.

Pfizer’s cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor has prime position in the magazine with a four-page insert on glossy, heavy stock bound right inside the front and back covers. Between pages two and three is a large illustration of a red rose with a greeting to the GP reader:

Happy Valentine’s Day from Lipitor

Inside the back page, the other half of the insert has a picture of a smiling middle-aged couple cuddling under an umbrella, the woman holding a red rose. Captions on the photograph read:

Matt Wilson: Protecting his sweetheart since their first kiss

Lipitor: Protecting Anna Wilson since 2005

Then there’s another “Happy Valentine’s Day” greeting above the Lipitor logo and the tag line: “Proven cardioprotection”.

A little further into this issue of Australian Doctor, on page eight, is an unmissable full-page ad in bright red, with the headline:

On Valentine’s Day

remember, diamonds are a girl’s best friend

Below the headline is a picture of a small, blue, diamond-shaped tablet superimposed on a red heart… and then the Viagra logo. Yes, that’s right —  on February 14, according to Pfizer, what every woman needs is a Viagra-facilitated erection (no mention of the man to which it might be attached).

GPs to whom I’ve spoken have mostly found these ads puzzling, irrelevant and inappropriate.

“Why is a prescription drug like Lipitor wishing me happy Valentine’s Day?” one asked. “That’s just creepy.” Another pointed out that a doctor wishing a patient happy Valentine’s Day might be considered inappropriate; for a company that seeks a business relationship with prescribers such conduct was also unprofessional.”

The attempt at connecting “protecting his sweetheart” to Lipitor’s claim of “cardioprotection” was seen as stretching a metaphor far too thin, to the point where it became laughably lame. And asking GPs to see any real relevance to Valentine’s Day was stretching the friendship.

While GPs acknowledged a more obvious, indeed unsubtle, link between Viagra and February 14, some thought the “girl’s best friend” ad was tacky, self-referential, and not really clever or humorous — just “a cheap shot”.

The promotion of pharmaceuticals to doctors is under constant and ever-growing scrutiny from Government, consumer health advocates and groups within the medical profession. Pharmaceutical industry association Medicines Australia often responds to criticism by saying prescription drug advertising and company-sponsored events are a vital source of information and education for prescribers.

When ads are relevant and clever and communicate effectively, they may have a point. But it’s hard for anyone to argue that a pharmaceutical brand wishing GPs an unsolicited and inappropriate “happy Valentine’s Day” is informative or educational, especially when the link to any sort of therapeutic claim is so tenuous.

And it’s even harder — no pun intended — to justify a low-grade, nudge-nudge Viagra joke as a valid form of communication to health professionals.

Again, a major player in an industry so often portrayed as out of touch with community standards has confirmed many of those negative perceptions. And the effect on the reputation of the industry is magnified when one thinks of the thousands of advertising dollars Pfizer must have spent on these unrequited Valentines.

Somehow I don’t think Pfizer will be getting flowers or chocolates from Medicines Australia this year.

Disclosure: Dr Stephen Downes is qualified in medicine and worked in pharmaceutical marketing communications for many years. He still consults to some pharmaceutical marketers and their agencies.