So expect all of the polite reticence that has been developing around direct-to-consumer advertising to fade.
The firm's direct-to-consumer advertising made no mention of the potential risks of taking Vioxx.
In fact, it is possible that some of the greatest success stories of direct-to-consumer advertising are overblown.
America, which accounts for some 40% of global drug sales, introduced legislation in 1997 that allowed direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceuticals.
If there was a regulatory mandate for all pharma companies to cease direct-to-consumer advertising for prescription drugs and vaccines, what would happen?
Many of the FDA panelists argued that direct-to-consumer advertising should stop.
Direct-to-consumer advertising was 14% of the promotional pie--significant, but not overwhelming.
That early success came without the support of any direct-to-consumer advertising.
An even more powerful stick: limit direct-to-consumer advertising for at least a year, until safety is assured, as has been suggested by the Cleveland Clinic's Eric Topol .
Perhaps as a condition of direct-to-consumer advertising, drug companies should have to set aside some funds to pay for advertisements that would alert consumers when something goes wrong.
Another argument: Despite the flood of direct-to-consumer advertising on Vioxx, much of the responsibility for balancing the risks and benefits for Vioxx users fell on the shoulders of doctors.
There are myriad expenses involved in delivering Provenge, but the message should be clear: using a tried-and-true tactic like direct-to-consumer advertising might have helped Dendreon avoid some of the ensuing mess.
FORBES: Is The Dendreon TV Campaign For Provenge 'Too Little, Too Late?'
Another study, by Krumholtz, found the drugs--which are much more expensive than rival generics--are prescribed four times more often in the U.S. than in Canada, where direct consumer advertising is banned.
At first, Takeda will not be using direct-to-consumer advertising.
Psaty suggests that limits on direct-to-consumer advertising might help, as might the power of formularies, the lists of approved medicines that insurers and hospitals use to help control costs and, sometimes, to ensure safety.
Among his suggestions: better methods for tracking drug side effects, substantially less direct-to-consumer advertising, and giving the FDA the legislative authority to force drugmakers to conduct trials that fully examine the risks of their medicines.
Meanwhile, Merck cut back on consumer advertising.
FORBES: Merck & Its HPV Vaccine: Sales & Skepticism Are Both Up
Earlier in his career, Kinnier was a product manager at Google, on both the consumer and advertising sides of the company.
Even big brands that create consumer demand through advertising and promotion are vulnerable to the distributors' own-label products.
Visits to its theme parks are expected to fall in step with a decline in U.S. consumer confidence, offsetting advertising sales growth at Disney's ESPN and ABC television networks.
After a tumultuous 2009, during which a measly 18 consumer magazines grew their advertising pages in the face of the economic downturn, the first half of 2010 is shaping up exceedingly more positive.
Dr. AK Pradeep, the CEO of Neurofocus, showed how his company measures the effectiveness of advertising by monitoring consumer brain waves.
FORBES: Advertising Week 2010: Digital Fuses Data, Media Buying
Beyond big-name movies, Wall Street will be anxious to hear what the media and entertainment conglomerate says about advertising revenue and consumer spending.
Reintroducing Fiat cars to Americans is an intensely personal mission for the sprightly 38-year-old marketing whiz whose knack for tapping into consumer lifestyles outside of traditional advertising venues caught the eye of Sergio Marchionne, the chief executive of both Fiat Autos SpA and Chrysler Group.
That's because Google's business model remains primarily the sale of advertising around its free consumer products.
The gaming industry has set the standard for so much in advertising, commerce and consumer intent.
FORBES: 3 Lessons Del Monte Can Learn From Playing Fruit Ninja
All of this depends on the willingness of consumer-goods companies to buy advertising slots, however.
That matters, because even if companies pay for their cloud services, most consumer services will be funded by advertising.
Logically we know that advertising dollars should follow consumer time spent on media.
In the consumer-driven market for classified advertising, for instance, ordinary people instinctively grasped the efficiencies of online sites such as Craigslist, thus causing a drop in classified revenues at newspapers.
应用推荐