I had the privilege of listening to one of my heroes, Christel Marchand Aprigliano, challenge a few of us in the diabetes blogging community to think about the 95% of the people who could benefit from the Diabetes Online Community who do not even know that community exists. I have been thinking about that challenge ever since.
Today, I saw a Facebook ad that is trying to attract the attention of some part of that 95%. A part that is a very clearly defined segment of a marketing machine that sees the people looking for diabetes information online as a target. A group to track, refine and package as it “offers pharmaceutical companies an opportunity to develop relationships with individual consumers using sophisticated data-mining tools.” [http://www.democraticmedia.org/files/u1//2010-11-19-FTC-Pharma-Filing.pdf]
You know what? It is OK with me if pharma wants an individual relationship. That is fine. They have an important roll in health care. I want pharma to be part of the community if they take a seat, join the conversation, listen and participate openly, honestly and with respect.
It is just that I don’t see this ad as open, honest or respectful.
What do you think?
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