TV plugging prescription drugs

The mixed blessings of product placement for prescription drugs, as seen here

When he thinks his life is spinning out of control, TV mobster Tony Soprano reaches for Prozac, an antidepressant developed by Eli Lilly and Co.

The names of popular drugs Viagra and Botox frequently come up in TV shows.

There were 462 mentions of prescription drugs on TV last year, more than double the number from just two years earlier. But while consumer-product giants such as Coca-Cola, Toyota and BlackBerry shell out hundreds of millions of dollars to TV and movie studios to mention their products in story lines, it’s a mixed blessing for drug companies to have such exposure.

I don’t think the drug industry really likes this trend at all,” said Rob Frankel, a branding expert in Los Angeles. “Some of the jokes about Viagra and Botox are pretty sarcastic or disparaging. They get darker and deeper when they start mentioning Prozac and (anxiety medication) Xanax.”

In an episode of “Freestyle” on HGTV, a homeowner defined a comforting room in her house as her “Prozac room.” In an episode of “House,” a sign over the coffee machine in the doctors’ conference room says “Good coffee – cheaper than Prozac!”

Drug companies are relatively small players in product placement, with none breaking into the top 10. Bigger companies such as Nike and Hewlett-Packard dominate, according to Nielsen Product Placement.

Overall, companies paid $3.36 billion globally last year to place their products in TV, film and other media, up 37 percent from a year earlier, according to PQ Media.

Some pharmaceutical companies have acknowledged paying for TV plugs. Lilly says it doesn’t pay.

The FDA does not have an explicit position on product placement. In normal advertising, drug makers are prohibited from advertising the benefits of their drugs without mentioning possible risks.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, an association that represents many of the country’s biggest drug makers, declined to comment on the topic.

Some drug product mentions on TV seem outright promotional. In the Jan. 16 episode of ABC’s “Boston Legal,” a teacher got in trouble for failing to administer EpiPen, an injectible medication, to a child who ate peanut candy and died.

The boy’s father, testifying on the show, said: “Anaphylactic shock can come on suddenly, which is what happened here. The airways can become clogged in less than 30 seconds. If the EpiPen isn’t administered, it can be fatal.”

EpiPen’s maker, Dey of Napa, Calif., did not return a call seeking comment.

In one episode of the NBC situation comedy “Scrubs,” a logo for the contraceptive brand NuvaRing appeared 11 times, mostly on posters placed in the background.

The brand’s maker, Organon Pharmaceuticals USA of Roseland, N.J., told trade magazine Brandweek that it had done placement deals with several television shows, including CBS’ “King of Queens” and ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy.”

“A lot of the feedback we get is from health-care professionals,” brand director Lisa Barkowski told the publication. “They mention it to (our) reps, ‘Wow, I saw that poster.’ It reinforces in their mind; it makes them think of the product.”

The company did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Despite the billions of dollars the pharmaceutical industry spends on direct-to-consumer advertising, drugs still don’t have the instant connection with consumers that everyday products such as soft drinks and sports cars have, some media experts say. Therefore, television shows can do only so much to plug a drug.

“On some shows, a character can drink a Coke or hop into a car,” said Fariba Zamaniyan, senior vice president for IAG Research in New York. “You can’t do that with a pharmaceutical product. ... It’s only a brand name. Unless you talk about what the benefits are, you can’t see the value of it.”