Sunday, August 15, 2004
 Chattanoogan.com August 12, 2004: Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw has canceled a fundraising speech here, citing a locally based website that has been critical of him.
The site, SSRI Citizen, is operated by Rob Robinson, son of City Councilwoman Sally Robinson.
Marianne Edwards, development director for the Fortwood Center, said the agency received a letter on Friday from Mr. Bradshaw's agent, informing them of the cancellation.
[...]
The Robinson site (www.ssricitizen.org) focuses on SSRIs, or Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, a class of drugs which includes popular medications such as Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Luvox and Celexa. The Robinson site says the drugs can cause serious side effects, including hostility and aggression.
The Robinson site refers to Terry Bradshaw as "Mr. Paxil" and says, "Former football legend Terry Bradshaw now hawks Paxil for GlaxoSmithKline."
Mr. Bradshaw, who led the Pittsburgh Steelers to four Super Bowl championships, was scheduled to speak on the topic of "Why Not Be Your Best? The Winning Strategy Of Conquering Depression."
[...]  SSRI Citizen August 11, 2004: [SSRI Citizen] is also challenging SSRI drug company promotions which position celebrities such as actress Delta Burke (Effexor) and former NFL star Terry Bradshaw (Paxil) as drug spokespersons. "These individuals, who are paid handsomely for the use of their name and influence, are not spelling out for the public the extraordinarily serious risks associated with their drug of choice," Robinson said. "Its 'Trojan horse' marketing … get the pills into medicine cabinets of America using glitzy ads and slick Hollywood stars. But don’t tell the public what really might be lying-in-wait for them inside those innocent-looking pills."
"The bottom line is these drug companies are driven by shareholders to increase sales of these drugs and thus increase profits," Robinson said. "In the case of GlaxoSmithKline its 'If we can make three billion dollars a year off Paxil … why not four, five or more?' Its that kind of rationale that led to GSK’s pivotal role in the creation of another 'Trojan horse' marketing stratagem called 'TMAP' or the Texas Medication Algorithm Project. Through TMAP, GSK and other drug companies methodically compromised the decision making of elected and appointed public officials to gain access to captive populations of mentally ill individuals in prisons and state mental health hospitals." For more information see http://www.ahrp.org/infomail/04/07/07.html
In another marketing ploy GlaxoSmithKline is using Terry Bradshaw to lead the Paxil marketing charge in a program called 'The All-Stars at Work' which targets ‘mental health in the workplace.' "The 'program' is supported by an unrestricted 'educational grant' from GlaxoSmithKline," Mr. Robinson said. "We considered sending Mr. Bradshaw a complimentary case of bumper stickers that say "Terry Bradshaw Says Eat More Paxil" to hand out to workers. Maybe it would make him think twice about his continued promotion of the drug. At least, we’d like to think so."
Mr. Bradshaw is also traveling throughout the country under the aegis of GSK to promote the use of Paxil through a series of speeches, albeit without his former Paxil sidekick Ricky Williams. (Mr. Williams, another football star, parted company from GSK last year and was recently quoted in the press as saying 'Marijuana is 10 times better for me than Paxil.') The web site GSK formerly maintained for the duo at www.rickyandterry.com has vanished and been replaced by another dubbed www.terryinyourtown.com All mention of Mr. Williams has been expunged from GSK’s web site at www.gsk.com
"Although Mr. Bradshaw claims his GSK-backed 'depression tour' is 'the coolest thing he's ever done in his life' his tour schedule is not posted at his web site. If you contact GSK or the public relations firm responsible for coordinating Mr. Bradshaw’s appearances all you get is an answering machine asking you to leave your contact information. But no one ever calls back," Robinson said. "If Mr. Bradshaw’s promotion of Paxil is, as he puts it — 'so cool' — wouldn't GSK want everyone in the world to know where Mr. Bradshaw is going to be, and when, so the public can have an opportunity to hear him talk about Paxil?"
[...] - See also Paxil spokesman endorses cannabis
.....---
.....| Posted at 13:06 | PERMA-LINK |
|
FEED
TOTAL411 PODCAST
SELECTED VIDEO ]