Lipitor’s New Direct to Consumer Ad

Pfizer’s cholesterol drug Lipitor has a new ad and a new pitchman. The old ad and pitchman were taken off the air last year after Dr. Robert Jarvik’s expertise were called into question. Critics panned the old ad as misleading since Jarvik has never been a practicing physician. His fame is the result of developing the artificial heart.
The new ad emphasizes experience over notoriety by using an ordinary baby boomer pitchman who actually has had a heart attack and was supposedly told by his physician that he should have been doing more prior to his heart attack to lower his cholesterol. In one part of the ad the ptichman states, “I trust my heart to Lipitor.”
Lipitor, the world’s best-selling prescription drug, is a so-called statin drug that is typically taken once daily to block an enzyme in the liver that helps make cholesterol. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Lipitor 12 years ago.
The potential side effects of LIpitor is presented subtlely in a voiceover. The ad shows the ordinary man with his family in active scenes. Of course, the ad is a direct to consumer marketing piece that still plays on the emotions rather than science.