Weight-loss company pulls The Bachelor ad deal
The parent company of a weight-loss drug has pulled the plug on plans to advertise during The Bachelor.
Inova Pharmaceuticals, which distributes the prescription-only weight-loss drug Duromine in Australia, had been planning on running ads during Ten’s dating show promoting messages about weight loss. But it insists it never intended to tie the messages directly to Duromine.
Duromine claims to help stop the production of new fat
In an article on Adnews yesterday, that’s not how it was communicated:
“Speaking to Adnews today, Ten GM Rod Prosser said Duromine will be a ‘quieter’ sponsor and the network will be ‘treading very carefully’ with how it’s advertised and it won’t have any in-show integration.
Ultimately, he said the sales team felt comfortable with Duromine’s sponsorship position.”
Interestingly enough, the Adnews article has been taken down. If you google the headline and click the cached option you can still find it. And I’ve included the screenshot –
Link to screenshot article here: https://imgur.com/a/kGEW6jr
Who is their media agency?
Someone cottoned on that even announcing the sponsorship with the brand name potentially contravenes regulation and Inova could be liable for big fines. My guess is the agency and Ten did not seek their approval before announcing the deal. Rookie stuff.