Lawsuits between competitors for false advertising under the Lanham Act are on the rise. The risks of the companies in these cases are serious advertiser’s jeopardy increasingly is subjected to injunctions and damage awards especially for these advertising campaigns. However, these implied claims have taken center stage in opponent Lanham Act false advertising cases. Given halt to famous multimedia million dollar ad campaigns that involve not what an ad says, but the implication it communicates (Miller, 2010. p.1).
This case involves a dispute between Pharmacia and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer HealthCare on a trademark product intended to help people to stop smoking cigarettes.
Pharmacia, trademark product was called Nicotrol, a patch that can be worn sixteen hour at a time and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer HealthCare two trademark product were called NicoDerm CQ, a skin patch that could be worn and Nicorette a nicotine gum that that can be chewed whenever (2009, p. 249)
Conversely, the problem aroused when GlaxoSmithKline Consumer HealthCare aired two commercials ad, the first commercial, Revised Tough Decision, that feature a consumer contemplating to buy Nicorette or Nicotrol. Giving the customer a choice of nicotine gum that can be used whenever the customer need it or a patch that can be worn for sixteen hours a day only. In other words, the advertisement questions Pharmacia ending result of flexibility. In my opinion, the punch line of the commercial was “So much for flexibility” and the customer chooses Nicorette. The second commercial, Revised Smart Choice that contrasts NicoDerm and Nicotrol based on several criteria involving consumer preference. For instance, each products feature a three-step program; NicoDerm alone offers...
... middle of paper ...
...injunctive relief against the advertisements of their close competitors” (2009, p. 250-251). In other word,
Conclusion
Finally, in litigation, a challenger can allege an implied claim without a survey under the necessary implication doctrine, but to do so effectively will require a tight fit between the actual words and images used in the ad copy. For this reason, the court grants Pharmacia's motion to enjoin GlaxoSmithKline from airing "Revised Smart Choice" because the commercial makes false claim.
Works Cited
Halbert, T., & Ingulli, E. (2009). Law and ethics in the business environment, p.248-251. OH: Cengage Learning
Miller, R. K. (2010, September/October). Advertiser liability for “implied” claims in lanham act false advertising cases. p.1. Retrieved from http://www.arnoldandporter.com/resources/documents/Arnold&PorterLLP_IPLitigator.Sept-Oct2010.pdf
Rationale This Further Oral Activity will be presented on a T.V. show format (based on the show “The Gruen Transfer”), with the host focusing on the false advertising of well-known health foods and drinks. This FOA will focus on the persuasive language and manipulative strategies used by businesses to influence and mislead consumers into believing false perceptions of their product, using case examples to support the evidence presented. The purpose of this FOA is to inform the audience on the plethora of manipulative and persuasive language used in advertising for ‘supposedly’ healthy products, while the target audience is Australian T.V. viewers 18-50 who are interested in the influence of advertising. The context of the piece is based on today’s world of marketing and how persuasive advertising strategies can influence Australian consumers.
Direct-to-consumer prescription drug ads are dangerous and can have serious effects on the health of the general public. In the article “Pros & Cons Arguments: ‘Should prescription drugs be advertised directly to consumers?’”, the pros and cons of the advertising of prescription drugs are compared. The negative aspects of these ads outweigh the positives. DTC prescription drug ads misinform patients, promote over-use, and pressure medical providers. The counter side argues that these ads inform patients, create a positive impact on patient compliance with medication, and cause patients to confront their doctors.
Nonetheless, there is no product differentiation. This can be a negative aspect for the company, since the lawsuits against tobacco industry are mounting and are increasing threat for the company.
The Kline v. Pfizer case took place on July 10, 2008 in the United States District Court Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The case involves two parties: Pfizer, Inc., Defendant and Brian Kline, Plaintiff. The Defendant in this case is the prescription drug manufacturing company called Pfizer. One of Pfizer’s product is know as Chantix, which is a prescription drug used to aid individuals who are in the process of quitting their smoking habits. The plaintiff in this cases is Brian Kline, and he was one of the individuals who had been prescribed the Chantix drug in order to quit smoking. As soon as Kline began taking Chantix, he started to get extreme side effects. Kline claimed that he began experiencing and expressing violent, aggressive, and moody behaviors. He was eventually diagnosed with a psychotic disorder and hospitalized for it the same year in August of 2007.
One major point that Sullum tries to emphasize is how people’s health will be disadvantaged once the FDA is given control. When making the decision about marketing safer tobacco products, the FDA is concerned about how the introduction of smokeless tobacco will be interpreted by the “population as a whole.” Sullum, on the other hand, believes the concern should be with individual consumers. He believes smokers could be doing something healthier for themselves if the FDA promoted smokeless tobacco. However, the FDA believes advertising smokeless tobacco as a less harmful substitute for cigarette smoking misleads people and encourage...
As each product has its own unique segment, target market, and symptoms relief, those differences are going to be essential to promote each product value to prevent cannibalization. Thus the best advertising agency was selected to provide us the best response.
Sherry B. Valan, Broadcast Ad Standards for Personal Products," Advertising Compliance Service, December 21, 1987, pp. 5-7.
Popular brands and companies typically rely heavily on brand names to unfairly convince people to buy their specific product, even though another brand would likely work almost the same. In order to do this, those companies use many elements of ethos, but they also attempt to establish the superiority of their brand with logos and pathos. In the commercial, “Colgate Dentist DRTV,” the brand attempts to persuade consumers to buy Colgate Total toothpaste by presenting their name and relatable women, followed by attractive visuals, but ultimately the advertisement fails to provide enough logic to convince a well-informed audience that it truly matters which brand of toothpaste they buy, and that Colgate is better than any
PharmaCARE is one of the world 's most successful pharmaceutical companies that is enjoying a status as a nurturing, ethical and well-run business that manufactured high-quality healthcare products. Thus, saved millions of inhabits and enhanced the value of life for millions of people. The company provides free and discounted pharmaceuticals to low-income customers on the base of sponsors health care informative programs and scholarships. Two years before, after PharmaCARE 's research identified that one of its peak trading diabetes drugs (AD23) might slow the progression of Alzheimer 's infection. After identifying the weakness, its pharmacists began reformulating that pharmaceutical to maximize the effect. To avoid FDA inspection, PharmaCARE used US law to protect its intellectual property as it established a wholly-owned subsidiary, CompCARE that is set up beside its parent’s headquarters in a suburban agency park.
The tobacco industry consists of many competitors trying to satisfy a specific customer need. Companies such as Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds, Brown and Williamson, and Lorillard hold almost the entire market share in the tobacco industry. While each company has different advertising and marketing techniques, they all target the same customer group. Tobacco companies try their best to generate interest in their particular brand or brands. Companies market a number of attributes that usually include, but are not limited to: taste, flavor, strength, size and image in order to distinguish themselves from competitors (Business Week 179, November 29, 1999). However, all tobacco companies are satisfying the same needs. Many long-time smokers are addicted to the nicotine in cigarettes. They smoke because the nicotine is needed to help them feel normal (Focus group). Many addicts go through withdraw without nicotine. All tobacco companies have nicotine in their cigarettes, which fulfills the need of long-time smokers. Other smokers depend on cigarettes in social settings. Many smoke to look sophisticated and mature. Tobacco companies make many kinds of cigarettes that target different groups. Social smokers may perceive certain brands as more sophisticated, and therefore they shy away from other lesser-known brands. For example, a person who smoked generic cigarettes at the bar may be perceived as uncultured. On the other hand, the smoker with the Marlboro Lights may be more socially accepted because they have a brand name product (Focus group). Many types of cigarettes cater to the many markets of smokers who want to portray a certain image in social settings. Tobacco companies do not create the need to smoke, but try to generate interest in their particular brand (Hays, New York Times, November 24, 1999). Overall, the tobacco companies satisfy consumer demand for the millions of adult Americans who choose to use tobacco by providing differentiated products to different target markets of smokers.
Webster, John. "Drug Marketers Don't Always Deliver a Healthy Message." Spokesman-Review. 30 Sep. 2013: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 08 Mar. 2014.
Surveys have also been conducted to tell the amounts of "fraudulent" ads being seen on television and how they fluctuate from year to year. In the past ten years television ads which make fraudulent claims have "gone down significantly"(miller). This is in part due to several new laws which have been established. It is doubtful however that much more stringent laws will be put ...
A Comparison of Two Advertisements Introduction Advertising and media are part of everybody’s everyday life, with or without them realizing. Each day we see adverts on the television showing us new lifestyles that look glamorous, we hear adverts on the radio, we see slogans emblazoned on people’s clothes, on the side of buses, on billboards, everywhere!! Big companies know that they need to make their product appeal to as many ‘niche markets’ as possible and they do this by ‘audience segmentation’. This is when companies make an advert so that it would appeal to one type of person, and then another advert for the same product but for a different type of person. Although it is hard to know exactly when there target audience will be watching, companies will spend lots of money researching.
charged with covering up the addictive properties of nicotine and finding ways to exploit it to increase profits. For example, in Wigand’s interview for 60 Minutes, he says that tobacco companies view cigarettes only as a delivery device for nicotine. He also says they take advantage of the addictive properties by manipulating and adj...
Businesses are in game in order to earn money and advertising is the strongest weapon that helps to sell a particular product . An advertisement can be harmful and misleading as well as helpful and beneficial . Advertising in ethics is an unclear concept , but truly the main goals of corporations should be avoid misleading their customers by setting up wrong expectations and to keep their current clients .The major problem with advertising is that most of them are misleading . Advertisements create an unrealistic and sometimes irrelevant impression of an any particular product. Unfortunately, often , consumers become the victims of their tricks .