Earlier this month, I expressed concern about the EpiPen marketing campaign launched in the US. Both the television commercial and the print ad for that campaign have now been pulled by Mylan Specialty due to the objections of advocates and food allergy organizations. You can read my thoughts about the US EpiPen ad campaign by clicking here.
Today, I saw for the first time the Canadian EpiPen tv commercial prepared by Pfizer Canada, which is below along with a transcript of the script. Do you feel this hits the mark? I welcome you to provide your feedback by posting a comment below.
A mother and daughter are sitting at a table in a restaurant and the waiter arrives with their desserts.
Waiter: Here you go ladies.
The child then the mother look at the slice of cake and there’s an enormous peanut on top of it. They look up at the waiter, whose expression changes from a smile to concern. He removes the slice of cake.
Voice over: Spotting food allergy triggers isn’t always this easy.
Waiter: Can I get you anything else?
Voice over: But being prepared can be. If you’ve ever had an allergic reaction to food products, even a mild one, ask your health care provider about EpiPen or visit epipen.ca.
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Great commercial, I think it really does a great job reaching out to your audience and the peanut butter was a great example!
Great stuff!
Being prepared doesn’t just mean have your Epi-pen with you. It means asking to speak with the manager when you get to the restaurant and asking if there is anything they can serve you without risk of cross-contamination. It means following the manager back to the kitchen or walk-in freezer so you can read recipes and labels. Sometimes you have to call food manufacturers right from the restaurant to see if an ingredient shares manufacturing equipment with the allergen. And sometimes it means walking out without ordering if the answers you get don’t make you 100% certain that you or your child will be safe. After you’ve done all that, yes, having the Epi-pen is critical in case anything slips through the cracks. But strict avoidance of the allergen is the most important part of anaphylaxis prevention and should always come first.
She’s a cutie…
As for the commercial, I thought it was very good, actresses and actors facial expressions are good, to the point with a bit of humour via an over sized peanut. Makes me smile every time.
I still see the comercial regularly, thankfully I’m not allergic to peanut butter, a short time ago I heard they’re making break throughs in curing peanut allergies.
I’m surprised that the comments are generally so positive. I still think it has the same underlying message as the one the FDA ordered pulled, and that is that the Epipen will address the risk (from the voice-over about “being prepared). Those of us living in the allergy world know that it won’t always stop a reaction, but others seeing the ad may think it will. At least this one does depict avoidance strategies, but like a previous poster, it seems unrealistic that there was no conversation about ingredients.
I think the maker should advertise, but also include all the “fine print” about risks and efficacy that are required when a drug manufacturer makes claims.
I saw it awhile ago and tweeted about it. Made me a happy momma in Alberta as there has been nothing to speak of in the way of awareness when it comes to this issue. We have a policy advisory that not a lot of attention is given. Even annual training to is not required in a lot of school boards here and in one parents are advised to teach their food allergic children to learn to cope with teasing and being left out….can you believe that??
Now, if we can get people to know it’s not just peanuts……so much to do.
Michele Ford
I’ll have to mull it over a little more, but my initial reaction was that it was definitely better, when compared with the previous commercial that was pulled. My favorite part is the voice-over stating “If you’ve ever had an allergic reaction to food products, even a mild one, ask your health care provider about EpiPen”. Yes, they are trying to sell more products, but I think more people with food allergies NEED to have EpiPens or ANY brand of epinephrine auto-injector, if others are available. I have heard from too many people that they don’t have them, because they have only ever had “mild” reactions in the past. People need to know that reactions are unpredictable and you never know if/when you might have an anaphylactic reaction. I don’t want to be an alarmist, but I pretty much feel that anyone who has ever had a reaction to a food (hives, itchy mouth, etc.), even though it did not lead to anaphylaxis, should have an epinephrine prescription. How many tragic stories must we hear of people dying simply because they did not have their epinephrine? It wasn’t merely the reaction that killed them, but the lack of medication, readily available and administered in time. If it takes a little “fear mongering” to get complacent people to carry their EpiPens everywhere, then so be it. It just so happens that Mylan’s interests match up with ours, in this case. They want to sell EpiPens and we (should) want to buy them, so our children can live.
I think this commercial does a good job of highlighting the fact that cross contamination is not obvious, underscoring the importance of being prepared for it with epinephrine. I especially appreciated the appropriate expressions of concern on the mother and daughter’s faces when the cake arrived and that the plate was immediately whisked away by the waiter realizing the danger. Eating in restaurants IS risky when you have food allergies. I think this ad showed this. There was nothing flippant about it in contrast to the previous commercial that upset so many people.
I also approve of the message to contact your health care provider if you’ve ever had even a mild reaction to food products. I know of too many people who have food allergies but consider them too “mild” to consider an Epi Pen, or their physicians don’t recognize the need to prescribe them. There is no way to determine how severe a future reaction will be, so I believe that is an appropriate and valid statement to be made.
Using my family as an example, my child was not prescribed an Epi Pen until she had a very serious reaction (4 years after diagnosis) and I requested one. I bought into the idea that anaphylaxis was “rare” which is what most literature years ago indicated. Compounding this notion, I believe many physicians have not kept up to date on the latest information with regard to food allergy management and continue to think anaphylaxis is still rarer than it is. Ideally, the statement will make people pause to consider that they, or a loved one could be at risk, and I welcome that thought process.
I like the fact that the word epi-pen will become a more widely known thing.
I don’t love that it is cake in a restaurant…because I wouldn’t order cake for my daughter…she is milk, egg, peanut, treenut – free. But we do go to some restaurants and try very hard to order and sometimes things still come out…so if they needed a visual that is easy to grasp in 30 seconds, I guess the peanut/cake can work.
But it could help get raise awareness of the general public. If my daughter sees the commerical, it might make her feel like it is something in her life that is on TV, therefore, normal.
She gets excited when she sees commercials for soymilk on tv.
I think this is better than one other I have seen where a mother was taking a child to a birthday party. She was saying, “we might not know what’s in the cake but at least we have our epi pen”. I was horrified. It was really sending the wrong message. This commercial is much more appropriate. I don’t think there is anything wrong with a company wanting to sell their product, as long as the message is accurate.
I’m not sure this would make much sense to anyone except for those of us dealing with food allergies – it is kind of confusing, vague, and something about it doesn’t sit right with me. I’m bothered by the fact there is no “discussion” beforehand about what the ingredients are in the cake…that would make more sense to me…that she asked – and was told it didn’t have peanut – and then for it to come out with a giant peanut on it. I don’t know. It just doesn’t flow right to me.
I like it much better than the Mylan commercial and print ad that came out recently that was removed due to several concerns. This one is alright. No feelings here nor there about it.
For me, my children are not allowed to eat items that I can’t read the label on, therefore they would not be ordering a food item in a restaurant at this point in their lives. We pack our own food because that is the only way to know what food is going into their mouths. I give a shout out to moms/dads who are able to give trust over to waitstaff, cooks, etc. I am not capable of that at this point. Too many errors can and do occur. And we definitely would never be ordering a bakery item.
I would rather Pharma educate people more on ‘anaphylaxis and epinephrine as the only treatment for anaphylaxis’ in general terms–perhaps even showing people how to use the epi (people have ana to latex, bees, medicines, and so much more) and take out their attempts of using these “may contains” scenarios which is something I would like to see education and advocacy organizations step up and have more PSA’s on educating the public on avoidance of allergen, carrying epi ALL the TIME, reading labels, etc. Items that families become complacent about over time when they haven’t experienced a reaction in a while, items that families are not educated about because their allergist never told them anything other than giving them a script for epi.
This is fine. A vast improvement over the other ads. I think it strikes the right note.
I like this commercial. For many people who do not have children with food allergies I am hoping that this will help to educate them further. So many people do not understand. Although we do not eat in restaurants this commercial helps to reinforce the message to our son that he needs to carry his Epi-pen at all times because allergens can be hidden in foods.
I think this is a typical DTC [Direct To Consumer] ad. Nothing special. In fact worst than most. What is all of the fuss on the scarf about? Why zero-in on this? I think it throws the viewer off-track. Also, I think the worst thing about the ad is that it is FEAR MONGERING. As a mother of a child with severe allergies, I still want her to live and be well and HAVE A LIFE. This is fear-mongering. What else do you expect from Pfizer?
It’s okay. The thing that gets me is I’d never have ordered/let my child order dessert at a restaurant unless we’d gone over the possibility of it being free from his allergen anyway. Peanuts are in far too much stuff by cross contamination that the only time he’s actually eaten a dessert at a restaurant AFTER his diagnosis was at Disney World.
sell, sell, sell, money,money, money. The commercial is not doing people with allergies any favours.
Well, the drug companies want to make money so they are going to have commercials. In a better society maybe we wouldn’t need any commercials at all. But, it may help the public after all regarding awareness, as well as, those unfortunate patients that do not have the most informative doctors. I have personally told friends that have children with food allergies about the Epi-pen to their surprise. So not every body is informed and not all doctors treating food allergies are specialists in the field of allergy, which may be the reason for the lack of adequate information.
It’s better. To be honest, I don’t like that they even put these commercials on. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t see the point. If you don’t know that you have an allergy, it’s not going to get you to the dr to test. If you do, the dr has already told you about the EpiPen and given you a prescription(unless your dr is not a good dr).
I’m sure others may not share my opinion on this. I turn the TV off when the commercial comes on. I definitely don’t want the issue thrown in my daughter’s face anymore than it already has to be.
I really like this one! Not only does it get the point across about having an Epi-pen and trying to foresee an allergic ingredient (which can be cross contamination). It also provides some incite into the dining experience individuals with food allergies (and their loved ones) go through. From the exuberance dining out should be to the shear terror that it may not be safe food being served after all. I am not quick these days to try new places, new foods on the menu, and even new wait staff. And I love food! Although, even with the repetition of familiar people, places and food we have been served food that, just like the commercial, brought terror to my table at it’s sight and needed to be taken away. Although, I am not this carefree and happy dining out due to food allergies on my brain, I think it is quite relatable and sends the right message. Thumbs up from me.
I think that was a good commercial. I agree that facial expression and concern shown by the waiter were appropriate. Tastefully done.
I thought the facial expressions were also good, the actors all show concern over the situation by Mother, waiter and girl, about twelve years old in the commercial. The bringing of the cake with a giant plastic peanut on top and the line “Allergens are not always this easy to spot”. I thought was perfect. Although peanut allergy was shown, they said allergens, showing that can be used for other allergens besides peanuts/ tree nuts, I like that as well. I am mixed about a waiter being the giver of the cake, many allergic families, do not go to main stream restaurants, but they almost had to leave the B’day idea for PR reasons after the last commercial. It shows concern with out being scary or graphic.
Its nice to finally see an epipen commercial, with accurate information and a real portrayal of what our allergic children deal with every day. The risks of hidden allergens is very scary. So to show viewers that a simple slice of chocolate cake isn’t as beautiful as it appears, really helps people understand the risks. It’s about time we educate people through television, keep it coming!!!