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“The X‑Files” Parody, Pushing A Drug

Posted on February 18, 2018January 17, 2019 By Ann Thompson

“The X‑Files” was a TV series that ran from 1995 to 2002. The recent broad­cast is showing now – and it reminds me of an assign­ment on January 7,1997, when I received a call from an art director at FCB / Health­care, to work on a story­board for Biaxin, Abbott Labo­ra­to­ries. At the agency, the copy­writer was creating the script. The art director suggested that, before coming in to the agency, I should video­tape a showing of ​“The X‑Files” to study the char­ac­ters, Mulder and Scully and also study the mood of the mystery.
The lines from the first page of the script that was faxed to me, titled:
Treat­ment for Product Rep Video
​“The BiaXin-Files”: The Cure Is Out There
OPERATION ERADICATION
​“Main Char­ac­ters” were described as Agent Mildew and Agent Scuzzy.

I had always thought that a peptic ulcer was caused by stress but the copy of this assign­ment taught me that it is often caused from H‑pylori bacteria (Helicobacter-pylori). In 1985, Abbott Labs had part­nered with a Japanese drug company to fight bacte­rial infec­tions. Abbott Labs got the FDA approval for Biaxin in 1991.

Opening
Opening 
Mood Mystery
Mood Mystery 
Characters
Characters 
Sketches
Sketches 
Brad's storyboard
Brad’s storyboard 

By the time that I arrived at the agency, with these sketches, the art director had devel­oped this rough story­board for me to follow. My image of the H‑pylori bacteria is the sharp-toothed eel-like image that I found and clipped from my exten­sive scrap file. I colored this crea­ture in the brightest, glowing colors that would make the crea­ture stand out in the dark video.
Following the art director’s 24 frames, my inter­me­diate frames of the story­board got approval from the agency.

Storyboard
Storyboard 
Time Sheet
Time Sheet 

There was one more version drawn with more detail and presented on boards for approval of the client, Abbott Labs.
Since I was working at home and at the agency, my time-sheet (I am surprised that I kept it) shows the hours and loca­tions as I was devel­oping the begin­ning, inter­me­diate and final draw­ings. First, the hours I worked were week­days and then there was also a lot of weekend, over­time hours, as it neared the dead­line. I don’t have the final perfected story­board, it was kept by the agency, but the timesheet for the last version – shows that I spent the average of 27 minutes on each frame.
As my part of this promo­tional campaign ended, I moved on to other jobs for other clients, so I never found out if the video was actu­ally produced. Could they find actor / look-alikes, find loca­tions and afford the special effects for such a spoof? The video would have been very expen­sive and prob­ably was to be shown at confer­ences or parties, tied in with a trade show. I don’t know how this video could educate the reps with infor­ma­tion to use as they repre­sented Biaxin to doctors and medical centers.
(There was, at the end of the video, a ​“doctor” with a closing message. Copy for this was not included with the script. This might have contained impor­tant infor­ma­tion for the product representatives.)

As I was preparing this report, I was able to find a clue suggesting that the parody had been produced. I studied the collec­tion of ​“images” that came with the search of: Biaxin. Here were many ​“Tchotchkes – free promo­tional items dispensed at trade shows, conven­tions, and similar commer­cial events”. (This is a term that I learned when first working for phar­ma­ceu­tical agencies).

Tchotchkes
Tchotchkes 

In this collec­tion, I spotted the same kind of ​“bacteria monster” (that I had intro­duced in my story­board) shown on a wall clock! There is no date for the clock, but if it was made in 1997, it might have been handed out at the time of the showing of ​“The Biaxin-Files”!

Then and now, the ques­tion: how could the Abbott sales force get any infor­ma­tion from the video to aid them as they repre­sented Biaxin to the medical world? Medical journal ads, trade shows, patient aids, product infor­ma­tion, confer­ences, and direct reports to the reps are all of value– but giving reps: clothing, pens, plush toys, etc.? There must be a reason for rewarding product reps, with small gifts, beyond paying them. Some items could have been passed on during the rep’s appoint­ments. The enter­taining moti­va­tional video and give­aways were prob­ably paid for by patients, as ​“research and development”.

Ann Thompson

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