When it comes to pharmacy digital marketing, selling a medical device, product or service can sometimes be exceptionally easy, but in other cases can be more difficult.
For example, the early marketing of the erectile dysfunction medication Viagra, starring American political Bob Dole and legendary football player Pelé in adverts primarily based around breaking the silence and stigma around a condition many men were silent about.
The marketing was so successful that it is difficult to conceive a time when it was even a controversial taboo. However, there are other products that are far more difficult to present as a product people would want to buy or use, and this can lead to some truly odd marketing campaigns.
Sprühkondom
The concept behind the spray-on condom was to create a form of physical contraceptive that was easier to put on for some people, which would lead to fewer unwanted pregnancies and a reduced spread of STDs.
However, there were a lot of issues standing in its way that made it a product that would be nearly impossible to convince people to buy it. The first is the general apprehension men have towards inserting certain parts of their body into an unusual machine, with several test subjects using their fingers instead.
This, alongside the very loud hissing sound, was distracting and undesirable during a time when desire is very important. The system also did not design a reservoir tip, increasing the risk of the latex rupturing.
Bigger than all of these issues, however, was the drying process. Having to wait up to three minutes between using the machine and having safe sex basically made the system unsellable.
Rejuvenique
It is rather telling that the tutorial video that came with the Rejuvenique face mask takes well over a minute to show the product itself, presumably to reduce the level of buyer’s remorse as much as possible whilst Dynasty’s Linda Evans tries to convince you that you did not waste your money on a prop from a horror film.
The Rejuvenique system is the type of product so outwardly hideous and offputting that it was an upward battle for infomercial producers to make the product look like something anyone would actually want to buy.
However, given that the actual product electrocutes your face in the name of “facial toning” and according to one review is akin to being bitten by a thousand ants, it may be for the best that it was hard to sell.
Juicero
One of the worst products ever made, the cold-press juicer was meant to be the last word in fruit and vegetable juicing, designed with a health drinks subscription system developed around it.
Even when the startup originally launched it was a difficult product to sell, given that it originally cost over £600, needed a Wi-Fi connection to function and could only squeeze bags of fruit and vegetable mixes designed specifically for it.
This alone was bad enough, but what made it worse was a report by Bloomberg News that showed that the juice packs could be easily squeezed by hand, making the overengineered machine completely useless at its one job.