A New Pfizer Lawsuit Will Hit the NY Courts

Fierce Pharma's e-newsletter has become a daily must-read...this morning brought a nice report on Pfizer's reorganization and plans to leave Ann Arbor. Sad news, but Christa Bruderlin-Nelson reported it with a "lighter" oddment....cut and pasted below...

pharmamanufacturing

Oct. 8, 2008

On an amusing note, Pfizer is in a lawsuit over some unwelcome free advertising. A company called JetAngel placed a logo for one of Pfizer's best selling drugs, sildenafil, on a replica missile, and then drove said missile through Manhattan, briefly resting in front of Pfizer headquarters on 42^nd Street. Pfizer execs were not pleased with the complimentary tribute and filed a lawsuit in the federal court in New York for misappropriation of the trademark.

The previously unknown, yet gutsy, company, followed up its marketing tour of Manhattan with an email to Pfizer announcing that it would repeat the "free PR" stunt next week as it starts a 12-city tour, and will add a twist: bikini-clad models will ride atop the logo-laden missile, handing out condoms with pictures of McCain and Obama on them. JetAngel's "new, non-traditional outdoor medium" that aims to "capture the consumer's attention" has certainly gotten our attention.