Jim Edwards and the Girl Scout Cookie Monster Sudafed Mashup!

Recently, the Pharma Blogosphere has been awash boondoggles, capers, and scandals. First there was the Buckets of Cash Zubillaga Affair and the Cupcakes in the Waiting Room Caper, now there's the Girl Scout Cookie Monster Sudafed Mashup!

Jim Edwards of BrandweekNRX posted a correction of sorts to an article he wrote in BrandWeek a while back entitled "Who's at the Door? J&J With Your Meds." In that article, Jim said: "Johnson & Johnson wants to turn Girl Scout troops into 'drug dealers' - but it's all for a good cause."

This apparently, riled the J&J PR people according to Jim.

"To my surprise," claims Jim, "McNeil was furious, and I got an earful from one of their PR people about a day after it came out. 'We're not trying to turn Girl Scouts into drug dealers," they fumed. "We demand a correction.'"

You can read all about -- from Jim's perspective -- here on BrandweekNRX.

Of course, a "correction" is impossible after the cat is already out of the bag. Or should I say, cookie already out of the jar? Jim's piece was picked up by the press in stories entitled "Girl Scouts Selling Drugs?" And the rest, as they say, is history.

What Hat Are Journalist Bloggers Wearing Today?
Edwards says this is a "Lesson in How Media Viruses Work." Hmmm... it's also a lesson on how journalists can be "corrupted" by the loose standards of bloggers, IMHO. I mean, as a blogger, you might get away with using sensational or "flippant" phrases to capture readers' attention, but a journalist is held to a higher standard. In Brandweek, Jim is a journalist, in BrandweekNRX, he is a blogger. Could it be that he forgot which hat he was wearing when he wrote the original story?

BTW, there's nothing about this on JNJ BTW, J&J's PR blog, which I think is a shame. That's what a corporate blog should be for -- you got to get your voice out there in the blogosphere and not just let it come through filtered by us bloggers.

P.S. Proving once again that great minds think alike, Jack Friday just reminded me about his post on the J&J Girl Scout story. His post uses the same Girl Scout image as this one! I swear i did not intentionally copy Jack, but it must have registered in my mind when I picked up the image elsewhere by Google search. There is one important difference: Jack combined Pepsid with the cookies, whereas I used a decongestant. Obviously, Pepsid is a better product to use in combination with cookies, although I suppose if you are allergic to cookies, a decongestant might help.

Moore, You Magnificent Bastard! I Read Your "Book!" But Did You?

Michael Moore is giving PR lessons to would-be promoters of screenings of his new movie SiCKO. See his "Sponsor a 'SiCKO' Screening" Web page.

Here's one bit of advice offered there about "HOW TO GET PRESS":

When the press arrives at the event, make sure one person on your team greets each reporter and remains available for their requests.

Makes sense.

But let's compare this to how I was treated at my screening of SiCKO a couple of weeks ago in NYC (see "John Mack Finally Gets His SiCKO Screening: You Can Too!").

When I arrive, there is one person who merely checks my name off a list and hands me a couple of sheets of info. After the screening, when I would likely have a number of questions -- including "Where's the bathroom?" -- there's nobody there! I have to ask the projectionist who was startled that anyone would walk into the projection both and actually speak to him! In any case, he did give me the key code to the men's room.

I must say, I was impressed! NOT!

But I wrote the story anyway and you can read it in the June issue of Pharma Marketing News (subscription required; it's FREE!).

Fard Johnmar Interviews John Mack on Bloggers and the Pharmaceutical Industry

Have you seen the HealthDot video commentary site?

If not, I suggest that you take a look first at the informative interview of John Mack (Pharma Marketing Blog) by Fard Johnmar (HealthcareVOX).

Although this interview was done back in April at the Healthcare Blogging Summit in Las Vegas, it is still very relevant today.

In the interview, Fard and I touch upon the credibility of pharma blogs, the effect of journalist bloggers, and the role that blogs can play in informing the industry.

View the video here.

Some Background on HealthDot.
As stated in the About page of the site:

HealthDot was created by ScribeMedia.Org as a non-partisan, informational and analytical multimedia publication that offers expert opinion on the future of the American health care industry. We do this from the perspective of three primary constituencies: Consumers, Providers, and Employers.

We bring together key players, report on their opinions, uncover current trends, and analyze the legislation that will affect it all.

The recent HealthDot Pharma Report 04 is very entertaining and covers the Avandia House Committee hearing, online pharma fraud, counterfeit drugs, Nigeria vs. Pfizer, and "erectile malfunction."

The latter topic includes the appearance of "Pharma Girl," who explains what priapism is. Pharma Girl is not related to "PhRMA Intern," whose latest adventure, "PhRMA Intern and the No-Strings-Attached CME Proof!", can be found here.

HealthDot does have an agenda, which is obvious from the following statements:

Politicians, academics and analysts from all political perspectives have come to the same conclusion: The US healthcare system is broken. They’ve fielded studies, issued reports, legislated, debated and spent millions lobbying for one change or another.

Still, the simple fact remains that the country has tens of millions of uninsured and underinsured, prohibitive costs for employers both large and small and byzantine rules, regulations, practices and processes that point to further systemic erosion over the next decade as 72 million baby boomers begin their retirements.

In the end, we aim for intelligent and informed debate as the country seeks solutions to a national crisis.

Perhaps Michael Moore is involved with these guys? Not that that's a bad thing!

'Round the Sphere: Oh! Oh! Check Out This New Alli Blog

Just when GSK thought it was safe to venture into the Pharma Blogosphere (see "'Round the Sphere: Pharmaco Blogs and Carlat's Crusade"), an alli death star is hot on its trail!

It's called "GSK alli Bollox". Posts to it are made anonymously by "by truthman30" who commented to me that it's "the unofficial alli blog..."

You should take a look at it soon because it may not survive for long, at least not at the current URL, which is "http://alliconnect.wordpress.com/"

This seems a bit too close to "http://www.alliconnect.com/", which GSK uses for its blog, alliConnect (not to mention that "alliConnect" may be trademark).