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Pfizer Pulls TV Ads With Heart Expert Jarvik

by sscatz on February 26th, 2008

Also the inventor of the Jarvik artificial rowing machine

Pfizer Inc. said on Monday it was pulling television advertisements for its Lipitor cholesterol drug featuring Dr. Robert Jarvik, inventor of the Jarvik artificial heart, because they created “misimpressions.” The facts are that, despite appearances in the ads, Dr. Jarvik is not a practicing physician, does not treat patients and does not row. He is, however, really bald and short.

“Going forward, we commit to ensuring there is greater clarity in our advertising,” Ian Read, Pfizer’s president of worldwide pharmaceutical operations, said in a statement. New Lipitor campaigns will feature fat people who stuff their faces with pizza, cheese fries and pork rinds.

The ads involving Jarvik had come under scrutiny from a U.S. House of Representative committee as part of an investigation into celebrity endorsements of prescription medicines. The committee will now turn its attention to Sally Field and her Boniva ads. According to one lawmaker, “America’s-sweetheart-flying-nun, my aspirin. She’s dirty right down to her rotting bones.”

Surprisingly, not an actual expert on bone health.

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