Coming Soon to Your Newsstand: Ads for the Pill

The Pill--once a topic seldom discussed in public--is about to be promoted big-time by advertising wizards.

Print ads that extol the virtues of the nation’s most widely prescribed oral contraceptive will start appearing next week in national consumer magazines, including People, Vogue and Glamour.

The ad, by Ortho Pharmaceutical Corp. for its Ortho-Novum 7/7/7, is among the first large-scale national campaigns for a name-brand oral contraceptive. It is part of a growing trend by prescription drug makers--such as Rogaine hair growth stimulant and Nicoderm nicotine patches--to promote their products directly to the public.

And not everyone approves, particularly consumer activists and those in the medical industry.

“All sorts of ads for prescription medicines are being hawked to the general public,” said Jerome P. Kassirer, editor of the New England Journal of Medicine. “The public should not make judgments based on these ads.”

Only a few makers of birth control pills have ever promoted their products to the general public--usually limiting their ads to trade magazines received by doctors. And women have traditionally relied upon their gynecologists--not advertisements--to help determine what birth control method to use.

Although 18.7 million American women take the Pill, its use as a contraceptive has generally flattened in recent years--with industry sales nationally holding at about $1 billion. And while Ortho is still the industry leader, consultants estimate that Ortho’s share of the market has declined to about 35% from 40% nearly five years ago.

Just as condom makers used the AIDS issue as a way into mainstream advertising, makers of the Pill are now using the oral contraceptive’s much-debated health benefits as a means to speak to consumers through general market ads.

The print ads by Ortho feature a month’s supply of pills placed in a circle under the headline: “We’ve come full circle since 1960,” when birth control pills were first prescribed.

The ad gives a short history of the Pill. It also points out its health benefits--including evidence that taking the Pill may provide some protection from ovarian cancer and cancer of the lining of the uterus. The ad goes on to discuss some potential risks the Pill poses--but not strongly enough to satisfy all critics.

“The ad overstates the possible benefits,” said Sidney Wolfe, director of the health research group Public Citizen, based in Washington D.C. “And it understates the growing amount of evidence that the Pill, in certain groups of women, can cause breast cancer.”

But executives at New Jersey-based Ortho insist that the ad is not misleading.

“It is very fairly balanced,” said Brandon Clark, director of marketing. While he conceded that one aim of the ad is to get more women to use the Ortho-brand pill, he insisted that its primary purpose is “to clear up misconceptions” that many women still have about the Pill.

Brandon also said he hoped that the ad will “help to initiate dialogue” between women and their gynecologists.

At least one marketing expert agrees that the ad can be helpful to women.

“If you can advertise condoms to men, why can’t you advertise the Pill to women?” asked Renee Fraser, an advertising psychologist and president of the Los Angeles agency Fraser & Associates. “I believe it can help the consumer make a more informed decision on what brand to use.”