Too much information

You know how you recoil when someone starts telling you much more than you want to know about his or her personal life? We call it TMI, and there’s a good reason for it. We don’t need to know EVERYTHING.  We understand that some things just are better kept private. Well, apparently the folks at Pfizer in charge of marketing Celebrex do not believe in TMI. Currently, Pfizer is running a really long (at least 1 minute) commercial for Celebrex, airing on the ABC World News with Charles Gibson. It goes into way too much detail  about the RISKS of Celebrex, and other NSAIDS. You may recall that NSAIDS  have been linked to heart problems. This is not the first time that Celebrex goes this route. Last year, they ran a two and  a half minute commercial, in the same, graphic style (no actors, just voice over).

The problem for me is that the message is lost. In fact, I am not sure what the message is meant  to be.  Is it to recap the various risks of NSAIDS? Is it to say Celebrex is just as risky as other NSAIDs? The commercial mention benefits, but I didn’t see those communicated clearly.  That is why I  think this commercial is faulty…it doesn’t make me want to consider Celebrex (not that I need it, but that is another issue).  As a marketing professional, it makes me question Celebrex’s savvy.

Judge for yourself. Here’s  a link to the commercial on the Celebrex website: http://tinyurl.com/26cqok