Celebrities are always an interesting topic of discussion when it comes to their marketing because, at a fundamental level, their value is the perceived benefit or association they portray. However, though most celebrities have their every word planned and memorized – except for a few horrible missteps – this is truer for no other market than young teens.

    I believe that this is in large part another aspect of the sharp division we have seen in most aspect of our society and culture. People are moving farther and farther away from what we used to consider normal and generally centre towards extreme ends of the spectrum. Teens are now either extremely censored and protected, hardly reflection any of the hardships that teenagers and young adults might face – other than obviously heartache – or partaking in drinking, drugs and other inappropriate behaviours. People have become simultaneously oversensitive and desensitized to what we now consider entertainment in the form of celebrities day-to-day lives.

   As a result, we see cases of celebrities who are made or broken based on their ‘image’ and ability to successfully control their public relations. Whether this controlled reality that we hold to such great standards is beneficially to the young teens who follow the every move of these celebrities is extremely questionable, but the culture to do so has clearly become an unmoving portion of their lives.

“I think the biggest takeaway from this is that perhaps “viral marketing” isn’t about making a message viral, but attaching a message to a whole new product (high-quality web content that will go viral). At the time I’m writing this, the video has over 27 million views; it also reached as high as #6 on the global iTunes charts.  Why? I would think it’s because people love this music video and song, not because they love hearing about rail safety.”

    Viral marketing has been incredibly effective for those companies that have been able to capitalize on its results despite the unpredictability of public reaction. However, with anything that is viral, there is always a risk that people will dilute, mix and react in complete opposition of the original intent of the message, especially when it is connected to “a whole new product.”

    This concern was especially pronounced in regards to Metro Trains’ video and Clayton’s last comment, which stated that people love the song and not necessarily the video. People on the internet sometimes take content to heart, as a challenge to defy any sort of standard and become bigger than the source of popularity. Though Metro clearly ment to place hiding in a washing machine and selling both kidneys as akin to unsafe transit practice, I fear that many would take this as a declaration of ‘you can not’, reacting by engaging in these exact activities.

    Controlling the outcomes of a campaign that has gone viral are next to imposible, and though I commend Metro Trains for their amazing video, I hope that the message isn’t mixed in the medium.

    Opioids are now the largest cause of accidental death in the Unites States, surpassing car crashes for the first time1.

Opioids: decrease perception of pain, decrease reaction to pain as well as increase pain tolerance. The side effects of opioids include sedation and respiratory depression2. (Includes Morphine, Codeine, Heroine, Vicodin OxyContin and Methadone.)

    However, what might be surprising is that these deaths are being caused by legally prescribed medication. The US currently consumes 80% of the worlds pain medication3, and what used to be prescribed only to cancer and end-of-life patients is now being used for common ailments such as back pain.

    Abuse, addiction and access to these drugs have increased dramatically in the past ten years, but many blame the marketing campaigns of large pharmaceutical companies in the late 1990s and early 2000s for the current market conditions and this growing health crisis.

    The largest and most well know of these offenders is Purdue, who launched a campaign in 1995 to convince doctors and patients that these heavy painkillers, which are incredibly addictive and were previously rarely used for moderate chronic pain, were as safe to use as Aspirin. They even released a promotional ad stating that addiction to prescription opioids was less than 1%. Sales increased for Purdue by just over 6500% over the next 13 years and a new market was created for opioids4.

    Since Purdue’s original campaign may have been extremely successful, they later pleaded guilty in court for a misbranding of the drug “with intent to defraud and mislead the public.”5 However, the effects of the product itself have been more detrimental and long lasting to the American population than anyone could have expected.

    As physicians and politician attempted to curb opioid use, it is important to continue the conversation about how companies represent themselves, how much we trust the messages of companies that have their own interest at heart and the long-term implication of short-term market expansion.

Companies are out to make money, even if their mission is to theoretically help you.