New Yaz Commercial Still Hides the Ball
Bayer's Yaz commercials are misleading. The FDA determined that they overstated the drug's benefits, and minimized the drug's risks (PDF). So the FDA yanked them off TV. It also ordered Bayer to televise new commercials that set things straight. The FDA ordered Bayer to spend $20 million doing it thinking, that way, every woman would get the word. But did Bayer follow through?
Well, Bayer did in fact air a new commercial -- and it did apparently spend $20 million doing it. But the commercials hardly tell women what they need to know.
What Bayer should tell women would take only a few seconds of air time: Yaz is no more effective than any other birth control pill in preventing pregnancy but, because it contains a new synthetic hormone, it is riskier than other birth control pills.
Of course, if the commercials said that, few women would continue to take the drug. That would hurt sales. So Bayer's new commercials don't say that or anything like it. Rather, they contain confusing fast-talk, double-speak and irrelevant jargon. A few of the new ads, like this commercial, are on the web for anyone to watch and listen to. Does this "corrective" commercial say anything about the drug being no more effective than any other birth control pill? Does it warn that Yaz is more dangerous?
