The Main Pharmaceutical Inspector ordered to stop broadcasting a TV spot encouraging vaccination against pneumococci. In fact, this is an advertisement for a specific vaccine, and the spot inappropriately portrays the indications for the drug and causes anxiety, he believes.
The ad that contested the GIF says: “vaccinate your baby against pneumococcus in the second month – the most common and preventable vaccine-preventable cause of death for young children in the world”. According to the inspector, this communication presents the indications for the use of the drug “in an inappropriate and frightening manner, arousing a feeling of fear and danger in the recipient”. On the other hand, according to the law, the advertisement of a drug cannot be alarming and incorrectly inform about therapeutic indications.
In response, Pfizer Polska explained that the broadcast spot is not an advertisement for a drug, but an element of an educational campaign on preventive vaccinations against pneumococci (Streptococcus pneumoniae). She also argued that the spot did not indicate any of the three pneumococcal vaccines registered in Poland. The company disagreed with the opinion that the spot was inappropriate or disturbing. She indicated that also the Ministry of Health, referring to WHO data, informed that “pneumococcal infection is the most common cause of death, it causes over 1,6 million deaths annually in children under the age of 5 worldwide”. According to the company, the spot objectively presents the social problem related to the lack of vaccinations.
The inspector was not convinced by these explanations. He still believes that the spot is not an educational campaign, but an advertisement for a drug. He pointed out that although the name of the drug was not mentioned in the video, the recipient of the message could easily determine it – it is enough to use the data on the website whose address is given in the spot.
«In the opinion of GIF, the messages contained in the advertisement in question, both verbally and visually, are inadequate means of expression in relation to the problem that the spot informs about. The verbal message on the mortality of children infected with Streptococcus pneumoniae plays on the emotions of parents and arouses in them a sense of guilt and harm to the child »- we read in the GIF decision.