Drug Firm Airing Ads for Female Contraceptive
Pharmacia & Upjohn began airing commercials Tuesday for Depo-Provera, becoming the first company to advertise a female contraceptive on television.
The two-minute spots premiered on three cable TV networks and on local stations in Nashville; Kansas City, Mo.; Seattle; and Columbus, Ohio. The campaign is considered a test and will last three weeks.
Broadcasters have been skittish about birth control ads, and Pharmacia & Upjohn encountered resistance in getting its commercials on the air. The company said a number of stations rejected the ads, citing policies against birth control advertising. Many of the stations that agreed to run the spots have relegated them to hours when children aren’t likely to see them.
WDAF-TV, the Fox Broadcasting affiliate in Kansas City, said it agreed to air the spots only after 10:30 p.m.
“Obviously, we are trying to put it in at a time period when the primary viewing audience is adults,” said WDAF General Manager Ed Piette.
Depo-Provera is administered by injection four times a year. Though it costs about the same as oral contraceptives, it is not nearly as popular as the Pill. The company said Depo-Provera, introduced in 1992, accounts for about 7% of the $1-billion domestic birth control market.
James Trussell, director of the office of population research at Princeton University, said Depo-Provera is used more by younger women and teenagers. He said government statistics show that 7.9% of women between the ages of 15 and 19 use Depo-Provera, compared with 3.9% of women between the ages of 24 and 29.
Pharmacia & Upjohn said its commercials target women 18 to 44.
Trussell applauded the advertising, saying “it would create awareness of the options available to women.”
But it is certain to upset religious groups that oppose birth control.
Advertisers accept public service ads that promote condom use, but they have been reluctant to accept paid advertising for condoms or other birth control methods.
The company is using three commercials to target different groups of women. One spot features an unmarried woman, another shows a young mother, and the third focuses on an older woman who has completed her family. The commercials, shot home-video style, show the women at family gatherings where they describe their plans about having children. The ads carry the tagline: “Be sure of your plans. Be sure of your birth control.”
Besides the local stations, the ads appear on USA Network and its sister channel, the Sci-Fi Network, and on Black Entertainment Television.
Joan Sinopoli, vice president of Pharmacia & Upjohn’s advertising agency, HMC Consumer, said usage of Depo-Provera is greater among black women than in the general female population. That audience has been a lucrative one for the company, she said.
Depo-Provera has a controversial history. Women’s groups have debated its use because inconclusive research links it to bone loss, a cause of osteoporosis. The National Women’s Health Network, a Washington-based advocacy group, contends that the contraceptive is being prescribed to minority women, sometimes against their will. It has asked the Food and Drug Administration to require doctors to obtain written consent from patients before prescribing long-term contraceptives.
