His answer was, “By the overall actions of the company,” the good stuff that they do, their transparency, etc.
Guess what: That’s not working. Think about it, folks – when someone betrays you in some way (whether they meant to or not) and then showers you with attention and love but never acknowledges the betrayal in the first place, are you won over?
If the burn is minor, you might forgive them in time, but the bigger the hurt, the more impossible it becomes to forgive. So when someone posts on Facebook or Twitter that a drug hurt them or a loved one, or points to seeming evidence of coverups, the carefully crafted corporate platitudes aren’t going to cut it.
They’re not cutting it now. They will never cut it.
Ignoring the query or accusation won’t help either, because social media being a public arena, everyone else can see that you are ignoring the person (even though you may have reached out privately, if you don’t say publicly that you have reached out, it leaves a bad taste in onlookers’ mouths. People take conversations offline all the time, but if the conversation was a public argument, letting others know that you’re trying to be adult about the situation wins points in your favor and can defuse people from jumping into the fray).
In the end, pharma efforts on social media would go over better if they sounded a lot more human. (For more thoughts in this vein, you can see my editorial in the November issue of Med Ad News.)
2 comments:
"“By the overall actions of the company,” the good stuff that they do, their transparency, etc."
This made me chuckle. The overall actions of these companies are generally unethical and greed-based. THAT'S how this person thinks pharma can earn back the trust of the public? That's what got them into the position they are in in the first place.
And, transparency? Most of the current transparency is required by judicial consent decree as a result of corporate misdeeds that had the misfortune of being discovered by the government. Any future transparency will be required by law. What kind of a complete idiot does this guy think the public is, anyway?
Nothing pharma does... repeat, NOTHING pharma does... will ever repair its reputation if it continues to use such sleazy business practices and display such a reckless disregard for the health and safety of the people who use its products. NOTHING pharma does will curry any public favor if it continues to buy off our personal physicians and we find out about it. NOTHING pharma does will do anything to earn trust if it doesn't start cranking out some decent, NEEDED drugs and stop disease-mongering by selling drugs for "Medical problems called 'heavy monthly bleeding'". And the "me too" drugs? The public is on to that, as well... and it doesn't make the companies look good.
Pharma had better shape itself up or its future looks pretty bleak. I don't know many executives who would want to move into an industry rife with executive jailings. Yet, that's where pharma is headed. Oh pharma, remember not to bend over for the soap.
What is missing from this blog post is whether Earl said what he said with a straight face.
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