Pzifer has won a court case against a man who towed a decommissioned missile around New York bearing the slogan “Viva Viagra”, the tagline Pzifer uses to advertise their best-selling erectile dysfunction drug.
Arye Sachs was sued by the pharmaceutical firm after he attempted to promote his business, which sells advertising space on decommissioned military vehicles, by parking the 20-foot-long missile outside the headquarters of Pzifer.
After the stunt in September 2008, Pfizer said that consumers might mistake the missile for a genuine advert. Their advertising campaign is already extensive, covering print and television, and costs millions. Presumably the powers that be were so distressed at the thought consumers might be duped into thinking they had spent part of the budget on anything as odd as a decommissioned missile to boost sales that they felt it merited a trip to the courts.
Sachs apparently ignored requests to remove the advert and threatened to erect further displays, complete with models ‘riding’ the missile and handing out condoms.
In his ruling for the firm, U.S District Judge William Pauley said that even if the defendant intended the stunt to be funny, “Pfizer did not get the joke.”
Mr. Sachs argued that he should be allowed to use the Viagra name under the rights of free speech. He has now been ordered to pay legal fees for Pfizer but says he plans to appeal, claiming that the “sheer power of the largest pharmaceutical company in the world trying to squash a little guy.”
Hmm.