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Fake Cialis Blog Demonsrates Dangers of Not Monitoring the Blogosphere

Controversy is developing over whether the blog, Cialis Online is an official blog of Lilly ICOS, manufacturer of the anti-impotence pill; a fake that makes unauthorized use of the company logo; or fodder to promote a healthcare marketing blog written by Fard Johnmar, who emailed me about what he calls a "full-scale war." I wouldn't go that far, but the story is interesting.

The infrequently updated Cialis blog has been online since 2004, but it hasn't been updated since Nov. 2005. Johnmar says that Lily spokesperson Kindra Strupp says the Cialis blog " is not an official site sponsored by Lilly or ICOS."

It is not clear why the issue only came up now, in Brandweek and on other blogs. But Johnmar makes a good point when he notes that whether companies blog or not, they should monitor the blogosphere to ensure they know what is being said about their products.

A commenter on Pharma Marketing Blog says "This is an obvious attempt to hijack the Cialis brand to some other purpose. I would guess that all of the posts in the blog are copy-paste ripoffs from other sources just to have some posts."

It remains to be seen what steps Lily will take.

Categories: Blog ethics, Blogging and Moblogging, Commentary, Corporate_Blogging, Internet strategy, Marketing Strategy

BL Ochman | Feb 6 06 7:37 | TrackBack (0)

Comments

From being on the inside of Pharma ... nothing, publicly.

It is a good example of companies needing to monitor the blogosphere but there is another side of this (which I am so happy not bound by anymore) that as a pharma employee you are required, by law, to report potential reports of adverse events to Surveillance. So there is a real dis-incentive to monitoring. For every post or blog that is problematic for the brand, there might be hundreds like "I started taking [antidepressant] and boy the night-sweats rot!" each have to be reported with the date, time, and contact info. Believe me haven't had to do this once ... turned my off from watching the Net ever again!

Posted by: Tris Hussey at February 3, 2006 9:33 PM

Posted by: lorisiri at January 31, 2008 2:48 PM

"his is an obvious attempt to hijack the Cialis brand to some other purpose. I would guess that all of the posts in the blog are copy-paste ripoffs from other sources just to have some posts."
before you said that. i think you must have some proof for make your comment is valid :D

Posted by: jimmy at April 18, 2008 6:05 AM

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About BL Ochman

Blogger, social media strategy consultant to Fortune 500 companies, and sought-after corporate speaker B.L. Ochman heads the creative team of whatsnextonline.com. She also publishes the Ethics Crisis blog for SRF Global Translations

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