This is one of those professional organization commercials whose real goal is to make the organization’s members feel good about themselves when they hear the radio commercial:
Small point: No listener will believe the person speaking is a pharmacist. That’s because…uh…She’s not. She’s a voice actor.
So why lie? Why say “we” when the audience knows it should be “they”?
My nitpicking the copy/performance mismatch, however, doesn’t affect the warm, fuzzy “Hey, that commercial about us is on the radio!” feeling this campaign is designed to elicit from members of the American Society of Health System Pharmacists.
And I’m sure it’s obvious to you that their Call To Action — to “find out more” about the American Society of Health System Pharmacists at their website — actually is a Call To Ignore.
But the change they are trying to make in the behavior of targeted listeners is this: When you’re in the hospital and have questions about the medicine your doctor has prescribed, ask the hospital pharmacist.
Successful Radio Advertising Intersects Common Human Behavior.
When you’re in the hospital and you have a question about your medicine, whom do you ask?
Right. The doctor who prescribed the medicine.
No radio campaign is going to change that common human behavior.
At that point where the commercial message diverges from the listener’s life, the listener tunes out…and never hears the rest of the radio advertisement.
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is that an american thing? asking the doctor? and the doctor actually tells them about the medication?
Up here in canada, for years there have been TV commericals for years for regional and national drug store chains encouraging the public to ask questions to a pharmacist really taking the warm and fussy approach. Hell, you see the signage all over my drug store and they actually have consultations with you for some drugs to make sure you know how to take any medication. It’s a great idea as it creates brand loyalty with a good relationship with the drug store, and it’s not like you hire a pharmacist off the street, they are drug professionals
Sorry, I don’t anything wrong with this spot. It’s a branding thing that should encourage people to ask questions that they can feel too intimidated to ask the doctor even though they should. Maybe our doctors just push through patients and count on the pharmacists to pick up the slack. That’s not a bad price to pay for free basic health care.
This campaign is not trying to get people to ask the pharmacist at a regional or national drug store chain.
The commercial is trying to get hospital patients who have questions about the medicine their doctors have prescribed to ask the hospital pharmacist rather than ask the physician who is treating you in the hospital.
and that’s bad?
I had a chance last night to talk to my own pharmacist about the whole issue.
Apparently there is indeed a different approach stateside about pharmacists. She’s had some people visiting from the US rather surprised that she will come out of the counter and recommend different cough medicine or answer general questions about over the counter medicine. She also tells me some docs will refer their patients to discuss the medication with their pharmacist as often they are up on more detailed info then the docs. This can apparently still vary in canada from province to province.
Indeed, anytime I have had medication, I usually get a few basics from the doctor, and the pharmacist will consult with me on proper dosage and directions to take. with free basic health care up here, some docs limit their visits to 1 issue/visit, so maybe that’s why they rely more on pharmacists then perhaps their US counterparts.
It seems the pharmacists association stateside is leaning in the right direction with this campaign. While I agree doctors should be answering the bulk of the questions, It isn’t always practical. Medical care should be a team effort of medical professionals . This can include pharmacists.