Bad Science, Gillian McKeith and a PR disaster – another lesson in how not to use social media

As a growing list of public figures are learning through harsh experience, the days of foolproof reputation management are over. It’s become clear that with an unmonitored voice through the medium of Twitter, the smallest misjudgment by a well-known name is done in dangerously full view of the public, with often far reaching consequences.

The latest to fall foul of the tweeter’s first rule  - think before you type - is self-styled holistic health guru Gillian McKeith. For those unfamiliar with her work, McKeith is a prime time TV celebrity and successful author who has made a name for herself advising the overweight, under-exercised and nutritionally challenged. Her herbal supplements, cereal bars and powders are sold in health food shops throughout the country, and it is the questionable claims made about these products that first brought her to the attention of Ben Goldacre: a London-based science journalist on a mission to expose bad science in whatever forms it might take. Goldacre has had McKeith firmly in his sights for a while and his book, the aptly named Bad Science, devotes a chapter to a detailed challenge to her scientific credibility.

So persistent has been his campaign to expose McKeith, that in 2007 a reader of Goldacre’s blog (www.badscience.net) complained to the Advertising Standards Authority about McKeith’s use of the title ‘Doctor’, as her PhD was obtained via a correspondence course from the non-accredited and now obsolete American Holistic College of Nutrition in Birmingham, Alabama. Having been strongly positioned by Channel Four as ‘Dr Gillian McKeith, Clinical Nutritionist’ her star somewhat fell when it became clear that her certified membership of the American Association of Nutritional Consultants was essentially meaningless, as demonstrated by her old adversary Goldacre buying the same membership online for his dead cat for $60.

Last week’s adventures began innocently, with a woman called Rachel Moody tweeting that she was about to start reading the McKeith chapter from Bad Science. Her remark triggered a series of angry reply tweets from McKeith, accusing Goldacre of being a liar and Moody of being anti-American, in reference to criticism of McKeith’s PhD qualification.

 
Being new to Twitter and perhaps realizing the seriousness of her accusations McKeith then deleted the tweets, unaware that nothing can ever truly be erased from the internet – not least because there are those among us with the foresight to take screen shots of such salacious events as they unfold  (the one above comes via http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/07/gillian_mckeith_does_not_have.php.)

There then followed another series of tweets written in the third person, as if to suggest that someone other than McKeith was at the controls. Those tweets were then also deleted. Finally, and most bizarrely, the last tweet, which remains to this day: “Do you actually believe this is real twitter site for the GM (sic)?” Sadly the answer is a definite yes, as the Twitter feed was linked to her official website and Facebook accounts. Those links have since also been removed, seemingly in an effort to leave no trace of this unpleasant and potentially damaging episode.

Goldacre’s potential libel case against McKeith is a very real possibility, but in the meantime he has offered to discuss directly any concerns about his accusations via an unedited podcast. No response so far. And the flurry of activity on @gillianmckeith seems also to have ground to a halt, the final word from 14th July being ‘the moral of the story: Love your neighbour and your enemies too’.

One other moral that Gillian should bear in mind – use Twitter with care.

To find out how GraceDigi can help your brand to use social media to its advantage, email makesomenoise@graceagency.co.uk

A potential PR opportunity for the Pharmaceutical industry that will probably go begging

An interesting nugget of pharmaceutical research news was released last week - http://bit.ly/d7G9PD - that could have very profound implications for the pharma industry. In short, in MS patients it may be possible to identify the likely efficacy of beta-interferon therapy in advance: some patients will respond to it, but for others it may actually worsen their condition.

This is a multi-billion dollar global market and the beta-interferon players must be very nervous if this research is validated. I don’t know the % of likely non-responders, but imagine if it was say, a third. That’s potentially nearly a billion dollars wiped off Avonex sales for a start. Of course for Biogen, it may not be such bad news as they have another non-interferon product in their MS portfolio, but Teva may be jumping for joy at the news as many IFN-non-responding patients would possibly be switched to Copaxone.

But imagine if this finding could be expanded to other therapy areas? Oncology is the obvious example, but what about more common diseases such as hypertension or diabetes? It could be argued that pharma companies enjoy the uncertainty that inevitably surrounds the absolute efficacy of their drugs: after all, if a doctor has to prescribe in the hope that a drug works, rather than in certainty, then there’s bound to be more prescribed than necessary.

So I hope pharmaceutical companies, especially the beta-interferon players themselves, embrace this research wholeheartedly for the good of all MS patients. It would be a massive PR boost for our beleaguered industry if companies freely and actively helped to refine the technology and put it to use as soon as possible. It might wipe the odd billion dollars off their bottom lines, but so what? These drugs are pretty old medicines now and likely to be superseded in the medium term, but of course, if I were a shareholder I might not be so cavalier.

So do I think they will do it? I have serious doubts, but I would love to be proved wrong.

Written by Neil Dickinson (@neil_dickinson) 

Ad campaign for prescription drug ‘Improves its efficacy’

Reports from Doctors around the UK are revealing an unusual link between the promotional campaign for a drug frequently prescribed in the field of respiratory medicine and its actual efficacy.

Scientists at the company’s research headquarters are baffled by the discovery, but acknowledge that the ad campaign, created by Marlow-based Grace Agency, does seem to decrease the necessity for rescue medication in those patients whose GP had prescribed the product shortly after seeing the ad in the medical press.

“The ad is very creative and impactful, but even so, it’s difficult to see the connection between it and the pharmacological efficacy of [Product X]”, commented the company’s Director of Research.  But the story does seem to hold water.  Dr Joe Kerr, a GP from the village of Much Hadham in Hertfordshire is typical of those who have witnessed the effect at first hand.

“I’ve prescribed [Product X] many times in the past and it seems to do a pretty good job, but last month, after seeing the company representative with her new sales aid, a strange thing started to happen. Every time I’ve prescribed it since, patients have actually called me a day or two later to say how much better they feel. That’s never happened before.”

A spokesman for Grace Agency, the company behind the campaign, was not surprised by the story. “We knew from the research that the campaign was going to be a winner. We had doctors in the research saying that they not only understood the concept, but that they ‘got’ the headline straightaway and even liked the colours we had used.”



It just goes to show the power of advertising - as long as you also take it with a pinch of salt.

Introducing....Grace Digital Relations!

The Grace Digital Relations blog is up and running, and this is it.  Not all of it, obviously, but the adventure begins here.  We are the digital arm of Grace Agency, a healthcare communications agency based in the UK.  We are fully aware that the nature of communicating is changing, and that the pharma world is considered by some to be a long way behind many other industries.  Our aim is to help bring it into the new era, the digital era.  To find out more about Grace Agency, please visit www.graceagency.co.uk                 

We have a strong combination of pharma and healthcare knowledge and innovative creative minds and have already generated many successful campaigns.  This blog is designed to update anyone who may be interested on our thoughts about the industry, and our take on current, relevant, affairs.  We will look to discuss anything that interests us with regards to the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry, but also the wider world of digital marketing and what the online marketplace can do for business. 

The growth of social media has been nothing short of incredible and seems not to be slowing down.  In fact, numbers are steadily growing as more and more people are realizing it is not a ‘fad’ but a genuinely important means of networking and promotion.  There are many restrictions, many taboos and many unanswerable questions, but there is a world of opportunity out there that the healthcare industry is just waiting to conquer, just as we are.

Our blog will attempt to offer advice, help, insight, reviews and discussion on a variety of healthcare and digital related subjects.  We welcome all comments, whether they agree, or disagree with us.  However, we retain the right to remove any contribution that we consider to be distasteful or inappropriate. 

Opponents of the power of social media suggest there is little evidence to support the claims that one can reach a potentially huge audience.  We decided to put this to the test using Twitter, and we have proof that will silence the doubters.

If you are a tweeter - if you’re not, perhaps you should be? - follow us at @gracedigi and find out when the evidence is released.

If not, just come back here soon to find out what we're on about, exciting isn't it?

Written by Chris Wilson (@clutterances)