does “what not to wear” star know what she’s promoting?
I (KW) have personally never been a fan of celebrity endorsements used by marketers to create brand awareness and association to increase sales. It’s one thing to use celebrities and stylists to create a relationship with a fashion or beauty brand. However, it’s quite another to do it with a drug company. After learning that Stacy London of “What Not To Wear” is endorsing AbbVie’s Humira drug for treatment of psoriasis, fellow activist and RxISK community advisory member Johanna Ryan and I wrote a letter to her to express our concern about her link with the pharmaceutical giant.
Stacy is currently the spokesperson for AbbVie’s Uncover Your Confidence campaign in which she talks about having suffered from psoriasis many years ago. One would think after reading the website content that Stacy has taken Humira and that’s the reason she looks great and doesn’t suffer from psoriasis. However, as she reports in her book, ‘The Truth About Style,” Stacy had a tonsillectomy at age 17 which resolved her psoriasis. As Stacy writes, “Not only did the operation clear up my skin, but I haven’t had an outbreak of psoriasis since.”
Psoriasis is an unpleasant disease. My father had it till the day he died and I can remember the coal-tar, ultraviolet light treatments and endless steroids.
It would be great to have a magic wand to wave over all sufferers to cure it. But you wouldn’t knowingly take chemotherapy to treat a patch of scaly skin on your neck.
Humira is not a magic wand. Would someone who develops a cancer after taking it think it was worth it? What would Cynthia di Bartolo say?
You would be forgiven for thinking after seeing this campaign that Stacy had taken Humira and that’s why she looks great and seems to have no problem with psoriasis. But as she reports in her book, Stacy had a tonsillectomy at 17 which resolved her psoriasis.
“Not only did the operation clear up my skin,” she writes, “but I haven’t had an outbreak of psoriasis since.”
– See more at: http://davidhealy.org/stacy-london-what-not-to-take/?utm_source=August+2013+News&utm_campaign=August+News&utm_medium=email#sthash.pVDRLXuO.dpuf
I wonder if Stacy and/or her agents were made aware that AbbVie was warned by the FDA to stop promoting Humira for milder conditions and to stop misleading the public about its safety? Does she know that Humira carries a FDA black box warning for link to cancer? Does she understand the significance of a black box warning? Moreover, does she care that AbbVie has sued the London-based European Medicines Agency (EMA) to block access to data on the side effects of Humira? This suit turns its back on the trend towards greater clinical trials transparency that AbbVie had supported. What’s going on and what kind of standard of accountability should we hold these celebrities to?
We are still waiting for a response from Stacy. I have always liked her in “What Not To Wear” and am hopeful that she will see the light and cut ties with AbbVie. Imagine how powerful it would be if Stacy came out in support of psoriasis suffers by making to make them aware of the risks with Humira and helped promote the need for open access to clinical trial data. Now that would be a worthy use of a celebrity spokesperson.
Stacy goes to London – or not
Whether part of their HumVie marketing campaign or not, AbbVie have taken an action against the European Medicines Agency, which is based in London. They are trying to block access to data on the side effects of Humira. If they win they will block access to all data on all drugs.
In a desperate effort to counteract this, a few of us have launched an AbbVie campaign several weeks ago.
One of the people who could give this campaign the profile it really needs is Stacy. She can support psoriasis sufferers as she has always done or can really do something significant for psoriasis sufferers and everyone else who is taking any medicine for any reason, by helping to make everyone aware of the risks AbbVie’s legal action poses to everyone. A letter from Stacy in support of the European Medicines Agency policy of open access to clinical trial data would be really powerful.
What not to Eat
Stacy is famous for her What Not to Wear campaign – helping people to dress better to feel better about themselves.
Helping people use drugs better would improve the lives of millions. But we can’t use drugs better if we don’t have access to the basic information about them.
Many drugs can cause skin problems – which can be devastating. Stacy could look at the RxISK skin zone. Here you can find a collection of drugs that cause skin problems as side effects. Many people are not aware of this and they can have devastating consequences. Stacy has outlined in her book just how devastating the harmful effects of steroids were on her skin – because she hadn’t been given the right information.
– See more at: http://davidhealy.org/stacy-london-what-not-to-take/?utm_source=August+2013+News&utm_campaign=August+News&utm_medium=email#sthash.pVDRLXuO.dpuf
Stacy goes to London – or not
Whether part of their HumVie marketing campaign or not, AbbVie have taken an action against the European Medicines Agency, which is based in London. They are trying to block access to data on the side effects of Humira. If they win they will block access to all data on all drugs.
In a desperate effort to counteract this, a few of us have launched an AbbVie campaign several weeks ago.
One of the people who could give this campaign the profile it really needs is Stacy. She can support psoriasis sufferers as she has always done or can really do something significant for psoriasis sufferers and everyone else who is taking any medicine for any reason, by helping to make everyone aware of the risks AbbVie’s legal action poses to everyone. A letter from Stacy in support of the European Medicines Agency policy of open access to clinical trial data would be really powerful.
What not to Eat
Stacy is famous for her What Not to Wear campaign – helping people to dress better to feel better about themselves.
Helping people use drugs better would improve the lives of millions. But we can’t use drugs better if we don’t have access to the basic information about them.
Many drugs can cause skin problems – which can be devastating. Stacy could look at the RxISK skin zone. Here you can find a collection of drugs that cause skin problems as side effects. Many people are not aware of this and they can have devastating consequences. Stacy has outlined in her book just how devastating the harmful effects of steroids were on her skin – because she hadn’t been given the right information.
– See more at: http://davidhealy.org/stacy-london-what-not-to-take/?utm_source=August+2013+News&utm_campaign=August+News&utm_medium=email#sthash.pVDRLXuO.dpuf
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