Tag Archives: Fox News

Can RFK Jr. Really Make Pharmaceutical Commercials Too Costly to Run?

by doctorads

Well the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

Dear Dr. Ads,

There I was, minding my own business and reading Brian Stelter’s Reliable Sources newsletter, when I came across this item about the latest incarnation of Health and Human Services head Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s jihad against Big Pharma.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.‘s HHS is weighing a pair of policies cracking down on direct-to-consumer drug ads by making them more costly to produce. The rules could potentially “leave broadcasters in financial straits,” as they would choke off a crucial revenue source, CNN’s Liam Reilly and Tami Luhby report. Full story here…

What the hey, Doc – will RFK Jr. stop at nothing to land his white whale?

– Bitter Pill

Dear BP,

As you might have noticed, the Doc has been on Bobby Brainworm (pat. pending) like Brown on Williamson for months now over his Just Say No to Drug Ads campaign. Here’s the latest brainstorm from RFK Irregular, as detailed by CNN’s Liam Reilly and Tami Luhby.

While not an outright ban, the two policies would make it significantly more difficult and expensive for drug companies to push their products across broadcasters’ airwaves, according to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday. The policies look to either mandate that advertisers elaborate on the risks posed by their drugs — forcing ads to be longer and, therefore, more expensive — or bar drugmakers from writing off direct-to-consumer ads as business expenses on their taxes, also padding the bill, Bloomberg reported.

We’re talking real money here, folks: “Companies spent $10.8 billion in 2024 on direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising in total, according to a report from the advertising data firm MediaRadar,” says Rachel Cohrs Zhang in her Bloomberg piece.

A whopping 59% of that money goes to TV spots. Case in point: “AbbVie alone spent $2 billion on direct-to-consumer drug ads last year, primarily on advertising for the company’s anti-inflammatory drugs Skyrizi and Rinvoq.”

Representative sample . . .

Annoying? Perhaps. Lucrative? Definitely. “The medicines brought in more than $5 billion for AbbVie in the first quarter of 2025.” That’s $5 billion in three months (annualized return on investment: 1000%) for those of you keeping score at home.

Meanwhile, “Senators Bernie Sanders and Angus King [have] introduced a bill to ban all prescription drug advertising,” according to Chris Williams at Fox News, thereby taking on both the pharmaceutical and broadcast industries.

Wake me when people start saying, “Doctor, I don’t see spots before my eyes.”

Is MAGA Inc. PAC’s ‘Ron DeSalesTax’ Ad More a) Deceptive or b) Moronic?

by doctorads

Well the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

Dear Dr. Ads,

There I was, minding my own business and reading Politico Playbook, who I came across this item.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: TRUMP WORLD’S NEW DeSANTIS ATTACK AD —Meridith McGraw reports that MAGA Inc. PAC is launching a new ad airing on Fox News, CNN and Newsmax. The ad is also running today in four Iowa markets (Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Davenport and Sioux City) and on WMUR in New Hampshire.

The spot attacks Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS’ previous support for a national sales tax with corny but catchy lyrics sung to the tune of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.” Here’s a sample: “Ron ‘DeSalesTax’ had a plan / To make you pay more / With a sales tax here, and a sales tax there / Here a tax, there a tax, everywhere a sales tax.”

What’s up here, Doc? Is this ad just stupid? Or does MAGA Inc think we are? 

– Not Quite Sold

Dear NQS,

Looks like a photo finish to us.

Here’s the ad in question.

For those of you keeping score at home, that’s a sales tax hike on eggs, gasoline, steak, washing machines, lawn mowers, electronics, toasters, and takeout – all thanks to the 23% national sales tax DeSantis voted for three times as a Florida congressman.

That claim is half true according to PolitiFact’s Amy Sherman, who noted that “DeSantis co-sponsored Fair Tax bills three times while in Congress. Those proposals would set a national sales tax and replace other federal taxes, including income tax.” Sherman concluded that the statement “is partially accurate but leaves out important details.”

The DeSantis campaign, on the other hand, is conceding nothing, as Kyle Morris reported at Fox News.

“In Congress, the governor supported the concept of a Fair Tax, a plan to lower the overall tax burden on an individual by replacing all federal taxes —  including income tax — with a lower tax,” Bryan Griffin, the DeSantis political team press secretary, said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital. “The plan also sought to end the IRS, which, at the time, was being weaponized by the Obama administration. To describe only part of the plan in an attack is dishonest.

“In Florida, Gov. DeSantis cut taxes to help families struggling under Biden’s inflation. In 2022, he signed the largest tax relief package in Florida history (more than $1.2 billion for Florida’s families). And, this year, he exceeded that by securing a record $2.7 billion in tax relief, including a permanent sales tax exemption for baby items, back to school and Fourth of July tax holiday, and $500 million in toll relief,” Griffin added.

And, just to twist the knife, Griffin ended with this: “Incidentally, Florida’s favorable tax climate has encouraged a record number of people to move to the Sunshine State, including former President Donald Trump.”

Never Back Down, the pro-DeSantis Super PAC, piled on with this tweet.

As for the eggs, washing machines, gas, takeout, etc. featured in the DeSalesTax spot, they seem to have been chosen at random. Kind of the way facts are in political ads nowadays.

What’s Up with the NYT Anti-Union Teacher-Bashing Ad?

by Campaign Outsider

DrAdsforProfileWell the Doc opened the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

Dear Dr. Ads,

This New York Times ad is so unfair!

 

Screen Shot 2013-12-13 at 12.53.22 AM

 

It’s the American Federation of Teachers’ fault that Latvia, Estonia, and Vietnam have really good school systems?

Really?

A little help here, eh, Doc?

– Randi W

Dear Randi W,

This whole campaign is the brainchild of Rick Berman, a Washington lobbyist who describes himself as “President of Berman and Company, a Washington, DC-based public affairs firm specializing in research, communications, and creative advertising.”

More:

Berman has founded several leading non profit organizations known for their fact-based research and their aggressive communications campaigns.

A long-time consumer advocate, Rick champions individual responsibility and common sense policy. He believes that democracies require an informed public on all sides.

Informed about everything but his client list, that is, as this segment on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow show several years ago revealed.

 

 

As per usual, Berman has established the requisite non-profit front groups to funnel his fees through. There is, of course, the Center for Union Facts, which paid for the Times ad. There’s also AFTFacts.com, which Berman baked special for this teachers union jihad.

The day after the Times ad ran, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten went on Megyn Kelly’s Fox News show to defend the beleaguered public school educators.

 

 

Not surprisingly the Center for Union Whatever hit right back with a rebuttal.

And round and round they go.

Given that Berman’s essentially a corporate grifter and the AFT is the most unyielding outfit this side of Syria, how about we just call this a draw?

Yo.