Call to block Wyeth's ad campaign in Canada for Alesse contraceptive

A coalition of consumer and women's groups in Canada - the Working Groupon Women and Health Protection - has written to Health Minister Allan Rock asking him to order an immediate halt to a direct-to-consumer advertising campaign for Wyeth-Ayerst's contraceptive Alesse (ethyinylestradiol and levonorgestrel; see also page 17).

"Advertising that falls short of spelling out the indication for a product, but uses a variety of techniques to suggest it - such as young women talking about sexual relationships with men and the photo of the 28-day pill dispenser - clearly contravenes [the law]," maintains the coalition. It also takes issue with another ad in the campaign that talks about birth control and alludes to the product's name, via repeated use of phrases such as "a lesson in." Wyeth ran the two separate ads to make sure it never mentioned the product and indication together, but the coalition claims that the ads have appeared concurrently in one media outlet, which "clearly comprises full product advertising."