uber.la

Because of the company I work for I might be at risk saying I'm a bit dubious about *some* healthcare marketing. Also because of the company I work for I can say with 99.9% confidence that as long as I am clear with who I am and what I am doing, I can ask questions about healtcare marketing without fear of repercussions.

Social media is being questioned at the highest level when it pertains to pharmaceutical companies and the *promotion* of drugs and therapies that may or may not be in the best interest of the individual being *marketed* to. What I can also say is I don't know near enough about the subject to even offer a valuable perspective on the topic.

However, I am extremely alert to the topic now that it is my JOB. ;-)

In fact the company I work for, WeissComm Partners is playing a big role in setting the transparency requirements for social media in healthcare marketing. As the FDA begins setting laws and regulations about online endorsements, blogs and social media advertising campaigns, the leaders of WeissComm are testifying before the senate committees, providing expert testimony to the value and risk of huge multinational drug manufacturers having unfettered and unregulated access to social media writers, publications, sites, syndication networks.

A former colleague at Dell, Bob Pearson, former VP of Communities and Conversations, has pretty much written the *industry opinion* that is being examined by the FDA as they move forward with their plans. And for more than 3 years Bob P was growing and nurturing Dell's online response from the painfully negative voices of the likes of Jeff Jarvis (see DellHell) to the positive influence of sharing the truth about some of Dell's supply chain issues (If a specific SDD drive was not arriving ontime) or paint problems (when the Inspiron launched in multi-colored hues, there was a paint curing problem that was causing the paint to chip and be returned to Best Buy and Dell directly.

Fast forward a couple years to today's Obama HC agenda and the economic recovery that is calling drug prices and drug advertising into the spotlight of scrutiny. There is a fine line between promoting a drug and providing useful information that can actually *help* patients and potential patients make educated (read: honest, non-biased, transparent) decisions about their own healthcare choices.

Moving on from my own inexperienced ideas, let me share a trending idea that is making it's way through the social media networks of Facebook, Twitter…

Last night a friend at WeissComm said something about adding the work PINK to their Facebook profile. The idea expressed was that this expression of a color had some implications to campaigns mainly unrelated to people's Facebook pages. And the connection between the colors and campaigns was not completely understood. A couple of them, PINK for example, could obviously be connected to a mainstream movement, like the Susan G Komen's pink ribbon. YELLOW seemed to be connected to Lance Armstrong's LIVESTRONG.

But actually my friend did not know how the 'meme' (or web-theme) started. It was something unrelated to the awareness campaigns however, of this my friend was certain. So today I put the word PINK on my Facebook profile. That's it, just status: PINK. Here's what showed up as comments on my status within a few minutes.

I'm pretty sure my Facebook friends are okay with me putting their responses on my blog. (If not let me know!)

What you need to know about this PINK concept is it was started as sort of an odd viral protest. Here's a post that captures the entire sordid story, "What Color Is Your Bra? Facebook's Pointless Underwear Protest." Where the journalist opens with, "Last night I told the entire Internet what color bra I was wearing. Usually I try not to overshare, but it was ostensibly for a good cause."

The rest of the story is history. The color status thing is generating a buzz that has nothing to do with Komen or Livestrong or the Texas Longhorn's loss to Alabama. (Did you like how I brought that in? I'm going with BURNT ORANGE as my status in a minute.)

So is social media okay for Lance Armstrong's marketing of his foundation? They are doing great things and empowering a lot of people. But note this, they are also SELLING a lot of stuff and FUNDING a lot of large salaries under the non-profit flag. LIVESTRONG'S yellow wristband was one of the biggest viral campaigns of all time. People still have the yellow ribbon tag across their bio pictures on Facebook and Twitter. But is ANY part of what they are doing, is ANY of their MARKETING in contradiction to the spirit of serving the public good? (I really don't propose to answer or offer an opinion on this subject. But I can ask the question, as a general consumer, somewhat suspicious of some of the social media for healthcare.)

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/FDA-healthcare

What Color Is Your Bra? Facebook's Pointless Underwear Protest

Do any of these promotional/selling concepts pushing your buttons?

Victoria Secrets sells pink bras and donate money to Susan G Komen.

Lance Armstrong's Livestrong.org sells products to fund their non-profit AND generate awareness.

Susan G Komen sells products sells products to fund their non-profit AND generate awareness.

Tags: bob pearson, bra colors gone viral, color campaign, communities and conversations, dell hell, dell inspiron, dellhell, facebook pages, Facebook profie, Facebook profile, Facebook status, Facebook update, Facebook viral campaign, FDA looks into social media, FDA social media, healthcare marketing, healthcare reform, heathcare choices, industry opinion, investigating social media, jeff jarvis, lance armstrong, livestrong, non-profit, obama's healthcare reform, PINK, pink ribbon, pointless protest, pushing your buttons, selling a cause, selling merchandise, sells bras, sells products to fund their non-profit, social media for healthcare, susan g komen, underwear protest, victoria secrets goes pink, viral bra colors, WCG healthcare, wcg partners, WCGworld, weisscomm global, weisscomm partners, what color is your bra, YELLOW, yellow wristband