T h e S t o r y o f M e d i c a l A dvertising i n A m e r i c a taking steps to encourage ethically oriented advertising. He wrote: This is why he (the physician) has been so unyielding in his fight on the quack, the cure-all, and the highly commercialized ''remedies’' that have abused advertising in their effort to reach the people. Because advertising has been the means through which these abuses have been put over, it was inevitable that the ethical physician should look with suspicion upon it as a force connected even remotely with medicine and be more or less prejudiced in his viewpoint. Fortunately, though, many leading advertisers and advertising agencies are already aware of the fact that the sale of commodities on the basis of scientific evidence will demand evidence that is established, and logic that is logical ... In the preparation of such copy, advertising writers have naturally been compelled to consult vast amounts of controversial medical literature leading up to the opinion held today, and then to submit the copy to recognized authorities, with a view to checking all of the claims made. It is this cooperation between modern advertising and modern organized medicine that will yield the best results for the public good.3 The Phibbs agency worked for major pharmaceutical firms for over 50 years. Harry Phibbs died in 1960. The company was sold to Frank J. Corbett in 1970. Chicago was the birthplace of another landmark medical agency. William Douglas McAdams, whose background was journalism and public relations, founded his agency there in 1926. In the beginning, McAdams was a general "package goods" agency with such accounts as Van Camps Beans and Mother's Oats. The link to the agency's eventual medical specialization was business from E.R. Squibb—advertising for cod liver oil. 15
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDMwNDAx