December 22nd, 2011 by John Di Saia, M.D. in News, Opinion
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced that it has taken action against eight California surgical centers and the marketing firm 1-800-GET-THIN LLC, for misleading advertising of the Lap-Band, an FDA-approved device used for weight loss in obese adults. The FDA issued Warning Letters to Bakersfield Surgery Institute Inc.; Beverly Hills Surgery Center; Palmdale Ambulatory Center; Valley Surgical Center; Top Surgeons LLC; Valencia Ambulatory Center LLC; Cosmopolitan Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery; San Diego Ambulatory Center LLC; and to 1-800-GET-THIN because Lap-Band is a restricted medical device that is misbranded as a result of misleading advertising by these groups. In the letters, the FDA warns that billboards and advertising inserts used by recipients of the Warning Letters to promote the Lap-Band procedure fail to provide required risk information, including warnings, precautions, possible side effects and contraindications. The FDA also is concerned that the font size of information related to risks on the advertising inserts is too small to be read by consumers.
Source: fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements
/ucm283455.htm#.TueG3YY1aZY.facebook
We have blogged on 1-800-Get-Thin and Lap-band surgery in general before. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Truth in Cosmetic Surgery*
October 20th, 2011 by GarySchwitzer in News, Opinion
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MSNBC commits an egregious example of disease-mongering in a piece they headlined:
“Plastic surgeon wants to fix your ‘runner’s face’. “
What is so egregious? Let us count the ways:
• They pass along a plastic surgeon’s news release about his treatment for a condition he calls “runner’s face”.
• So it is a promotion for his treatment for a condition he has named. This is what is called “advertising” – not “journalism.”
• They provide no data.
• They describe Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
September 22nd, 2011 by Jessie Gruman, Ph.D. in Health Policy, Opinion
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Every day in the U.S. countless experts discuss plans and policies to contain the cost of health care using words and concepts that run counter to our (the public’s) experiences with finding and using care. Most of us ignore the steady stream of proposals until one political party or the other crafts an inflammatory meme that resonates with our fears of not getting what we need. At which point, we leap into action online, in town meetings and in the voting booth. As Uwe Reinhardt noted in his Kimball Lecture at the recent 2011 ABIM Foundation Forum, researchers and policy makers “cannot even discuss the cost-effectiveness of health care without being called Nazi(s).”
Our discomfort with the array of private and public sector proposals to improve health care quality while holding down costs should not be surprising. Most of us hold long-standing, well-documented beliefs about health care that powerfully influence our responses to such plans. For example, many of us believe that:
… if the doctor ordered it or wants to do it, we must need it.
… talking about less expensive treatments makes us feel that others are trying to bargain-shop our care and that scares us.
… clinical care does not vary much among our own doctors and hospitals.
… when we talk about the “quality” of health care we are referring to Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Prepared Patient Forum: What It Takes Blog*
February 13th, 2010 by PhilBaumannRN in Better Health Network, Opinion
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The Pharmaceutical industry has effectively made a mockery of itself with television advertising (harsh assessment, I know, but bear with me). In the late 1980s – 30 years after television advertising was figured out – Pharma finally jumped into the game after regulatory constraints were lifted. Some of it worked – but mostly, the efforts just amplified the industry’s public relations comorbidities.
I actually believe that the industry could learn a few things in this video I came across. It’s a road safety advertisement and it brilliantly weaves together a simple idea with visual and emotional vigor. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Phil Baumann*
January 26th, 2010 by PhilBaumannRN in Better Health Network, Expert Interviews, Opinion
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Do you advertise on your social networks? You might not think that you do, but every time you tweet or update your status on Facebook or post a picture to Flickr, you’re advertising – perhaps not with commercial or self-promotional intent, but you are advertising something: an item of news, a humorous post or a moment from your vacation. I don’t believe that Advertising is bad; but there is bad advertising, the kind that pointlessly interrupts and annoys and leads to no action.
As the Web expands and evolves from a tangle of static web pages towards social and real time streams, Advertising will need to evolve into a suppler and friendlier animal. Google may have perfected Advertising on the traditional web platform, but the door is open to new players who can socialize advertising. It’s not an easy task: the bull’s eye of targeting customers is getting tinier everyday. Enter MyLikes, a start up which has taken on the task of helping advertisers reach their base. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Phil Baumann*
