'Round the Sphere: Truelove, Girl from Google, and Other Cyberpunks

Christiane Truelove is not really a "cyberpunk," but she was a fan of the genre in the 80's. Personally, I don't ever admit to remembering anything I did in the go-go 80's!

The comments of a certain "Girl from Google" (GfG) lead Truelove to reminisce:

Back in the '80s, I used to read a lot of cyberpunk. Ms. Turner's attitude reminds me somewhat of that of the corporate antagonists found in these works of dystopian fiction. And every time I see another Pfizer acquisition, I wonder if the dark vision of international megacorporations ruling over wimpy governments will fully come to pass (yes, I know there are some out there who already believe this, but I would prefer to have a little hope about the matter).

Truelove made these comments in today's edition Pharma Blogs: Week in Review. Subscribe here.

Hmmm...! That puts a whole new dark light on Google, which, more than Pfizer, seems to be the evil megacorporation out to rule the world -- except for the quarter of the world controlled by China, whose anti-democratic principles rule over Google (and Yahoo! and Microsoft -- but Pfizer? Not so much!).

It all started with my Pharma Marketing Blog post about GFG's contention that advertising is "democratic." This struck me -- and many, many other people -- as the height of hubris, especially when Americans are currently dying to defend TRUE democracy and our nation is celebrating the 4th of July holiday.

Anyway, here's what Truelove had to say:

"Girl from Google" gets guy from Pharma Marketing cranky

When it comes to Google Health's account people, Mr. Mack has no mercy. "The Girl from Google" first came up last November after a presentation by a Google account representative at a Philadelphia-area e-marketing conference. Mr. Mack had criticized the presentation for using a theoretical example that if it had actually been employed in real life, would have violated FDA regulations. He also criticized the presenter's view that Google is neutral and does not have the role of enforcing the law.

Then another "Girl from Google" posted on Google's new Health Advertising blog about how the company's issue management strategies can help pharmaceutical companies manage the fallout from Michael Moore's SiCKO. Mr. Mack notes the negative reaction by other bloggers about the post.

When the "Girl from Google," Lauren Turner, posted an apology, she just seemed to take another step into the buzzsaw. Ms. Turner, Mr. Mack says, is "another one of those Google Health account people I choose to call 'Girl from Google' because of her apparent utter lack of experience and knowledge regarding health advertising." Mr. Mack focuses on Ms. Turner's pronouncement in her followup post that "advertising is a very democratic and effective way to participate in a public dialog." He points out that advertising isn't very democratic at all, as the advertiser with the biggest budget gets to have the loudest and most frequent word.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!