Download Downplay

Advertising as Technology
And the
marketing of
psychiatric
drugs
Rank’s Model of Persuasion
• Intensify/Downplay Schema
• Emphasise: to something MORE obvious
• Downplay: To make something LESS
obvious
Persuaders can choose to:
• Emphasise their own good points.
• Emphasise the weak points of their
competition or opponents.
• Downplay their own bad points.
• Downplay the good points of their
opponents or competition.
Three techniques of Emphasis
• Repetition
• Association
• Composition
Repetition
• The repeated use of certain words (“Just do
it”).
• Ad campaigns such as the Fido ads.
Association
• To link your product or ideas with
something the audience already likes.
• To link the product or ideas of your
opponent’s with something the audience
already dislikes.
Association: Joe Camel to Joe
Chemo
Composition
• Changing the way the message looks to
emphasize your good points or your
opponent’s bad points.
U$A
Three Techniques to Downplay
• Omission
• Diversion
• Confusion
Omission
• This is when you do not mention your
opponent’s good points or fail to mention
your own weaknesses.
Diversion
• To distract attention from your negative
points, or your opponents good points.
• Ad Hominem arguments (against the man)
• Humor
Confusion
• To confuse your audience by using
technical language to downplay your
weaknesses or a competitor’s strengths.
Marketing & Psychiatry
•
•
•
•
Ads
Marketing budgets
Cost of drugs
The marketing of Paxil
From the American Journal of
Psychiatry
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Ads directed at psychiatrists. Look for:
Repetition
Association
Composition
Omisson
Diversion
Confusion
Financial statements for:
Eli Lilly
&
GlaxoSmithKline
Eli Lilly
• R & D is 19 % of annual sales
• Marketing is 31 % of annual sales
• The marketing budget is nearly twice as
much as R & D. (4,284 to 2,691)
GlaxoSmithKline
• R&D is 13 % of sales
• Marketing is 35 % of sales
• The marketing budget is 2.5 times bigger
than R & D. (£7,061 to £2,839)
Eli Lilly makes
Cialis
20 mg X (4 pills) = $49.05
Zyprexa
5 mg X (100 pills) = $370
7.5 mg X (100) = $525
10 mg X (100) = $729
And of course ...
Prozac
100 Pills
$198.88
GlaxoSmithKline makes:
Paxil
100 Pills
$193
Paxil: “Your Life is Waiting.”
“Every marketer's dream is to find an
unidentified or unknown market and
develop it. That's what we were able
to do with social anxiety disorder”
--Marketer, Barry Brand
www.paxil.com