Pharmaceutical companies spend millions market-testing the retail names for their prescription drug products (they’ve got the dough), and apparently names that include z’s and x’s for some reason create a soothing effect: Xanax, Zoloft, etc.
But these new television ads (Jezebel caught this yesterday and has the video) for Aciphex—a drug that helps reduce acid reflux—are a bit disturbing. In the ads, the pronunciation is perilously close to “ass effects.” (Yes, I confess to having my ears perk up while otherwise ignoring the commercial.) Is that really the best name the folks at Ortho-McNeil-Janssen could dream up? It sounds more fitting for a Guantanamo torture procedure or a north New Jersey strip club. (Bada Bing!) I gather they were trying to work the word “acid” into the name in some way, but Nexium and Zantac are much smarter and safer alternatives. I mean, does anyone want to walk into the CVS and proclaim to the pharmacist, “I’m here to pick up my Aciphex”?
–Tom Schaller
