The major television networks recently announced they will increase scrutiny of stealth health endorsements, those interviews featuring celebrities discussing medical problems and treatments on television news programs, often without disclosing they are paid by pharmaceutical companies or health device manufacturers to promote their products.
In recent months, TV morning news programs have featured musician Ann Wilson discussing the benefits of the weight-loss device, the Lap Band; figure skater Peggy Fleming discussing Lipitor, which she takes to lower her cholesterol; and actress Kathleen Turner talking about her struggle with rheumatoid arthritis and referring viewers to a web site sponsored by Amgen Inc. and Wyeth, companies that market the arthritis drug Enbrel.
What viewers were not told was that Turner is paid by both Amgen and Wyeth for her participation in an unbranded campaign to educate people with arthritis. Ann Wilson is paid to talk about Lap Band surgery by Spotlight Health, a Los Angeles marketing company that contracts with Inamed, the maker of the Lap Band. And Fleming works on the Go for the Gold campaign of the drug company Pfizer, which makes Lipitor, Reuters Health reported in August.
Executives at CBS, NBC, ABC, and CNN told Reuters Health that they were unaware of their guests’ corporate ties when they booked the spots, and that they will give such segments increased scrutiny in the future.
News programs have a duty to guard against airing essentially paid celebrity endorsements for health products that appear to be unpaid testimonials, says Cindy Kennard, a journalism professor at the University of Southern California. "There is something fundamentally wrong with lining your pockets with money and coming out and speaking about something like this. There is a fakeness about it."
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