Beavers, Bubbles, Bees, and Moths: An Examination of Animated Spokescharacters in DTC Prescription-Drug Advertisements and Websites
Kartik PashupatiSouthern Methodist University
INTRODUCTION
In November 2006, Warner Brothers released Happy Feet, a film that featured computer-animated penguins as its main characters. Reportedly, the movie marked the first time that a motion picture had a formal marketing tie-in with a prescription drug.
The movie's animated penguins appeared prominently in print and broadcast advertisements promoting the website www.flufacts.com(and on the website itself) sponsored by the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche, the maker of Tamiflu—an antiviral drug available by prescription only....