Since I’m now writing for Brandweek I have the pleasure of sometimes receiving some of the material “real” journalists get, to help them write their stories.
One such piece, called the Brandjacking Index, (Download MarkMonitor-BJI-8-20-07.pdf) arrived last week in my in-box, courtesy of Edelman PR. It was embargoed until today, to give everyone plenty of time to write great stories about how brands are hijacked and fake drugs poisoning Americans. And I note that many journalists wrote the story Edelman PR wanted them to write, like obedient little puppies.
The Brandjacking Index is a study by MarkMonitor, a company which “protects the brands of more than half of the Fortune 100 and 20 percent of the Global 500.”
In this particular case they would appear to work for the drug industry.
Essentially the message is that criminals steal brands, and make money off them by spamming consumers who get fake drugs from Internet pharmacies.
The study concludes, “As long as consumers are motivated to shop for cheap drugs, unscrupulous online pharmacies will continue to proliferate and take their money, risking consumer health and financial well-being. Overall, brand abuse is increasing, but more important than the sheer volume is the rise in the level of sophistication and the use of best practices by online criminals and fraudsters.”
The study does not conclude, “So let’s make drugs affordable by implementing national healthcare, and give everyone access to real drugs and proper care. Like the rest of the industrialized world.”
After all, if consumers had access to affordable drugs and healthcare, they wouldn’t troll the Internet and end up with fake drugs.
Oops. That’s not what Edelman PR wanted me to write. I guess I'm off their mailing list now.
- Peter Rost, M.D. is a former VP of Pfizer and the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower.
Peter - thanks for the thoughtful comments. And, on behalf of our CEO, Irfan Salim and me, you are not off our mailing lists now. The online pharmaceutical issue is complex and the study was designed to provoke discussion not cut it off. So thanks for your perspective and for expanding the dialog.
Best,
Frederick Felman, CMO MarkMonitor
Posted by: Frederick Felman | August 20, 2007 at 02:43 PM
Peter,
Is nothing sacred? : ) It's fascinating how the mechanics of PR and journalism are now visible to all and discussed openly. Just a point -- you mentioned that "many journalists" wrote the stories, but you didn't provide any links to illustrate this point. Do you have some examples?
Marc
Posted by: Marc Monseau | August 20, 2007 at 04:43 PM
Frederick, thanks for your kind comments, and Marc, this will help you out . . . http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&scoring=d&tab=wn&q=Brandjacking&btnG=Search
Posted by: Peter Rost | August 20, 2007 at 05:32 PM