On one hand, the health care giant is reorganizing - cutting 4,300 jobs to save up to $1.6 billion - thanks to problems in its Cordis stent business, among other issues. On the other hand, J&J wants to boost the stent business, which has been hammered by repeatedly by safety concerns. Now, though, its Cordis unit is spending untold dollars to run direct-to-consumer TV ads and some say the campaign, called “Life Wide Open,” may accomplish very little. (Here’s the ad).

For one, some docs think the idea of directly advertising stents is inappropriate, reflecting the ongoing debate over whether stents are implanted too often in patients who may do better with other treatments, The New York Times writes. “It’s deplorable,” William Boden, a professor of medicine at the State University of New York at Buffalo, tells the paper. “You’ve got to wonder whether it’s a sign of desperation.”

“Why didn’t their ad mention that other non-invasive options might be more appropriate before stenting in some circumstances?,” writes the Dr. Wes blog. “Well, it’s simple. The best medical care isn’t important to J&J. What is important is that J&J sells more stents. To that end, what’s really important to J&J is that patients ask their doctors why their life isn’t ‘wide open’ and full throttle yet. As if we don’t have better things to discuss.”

Of course, J&J is hoping to capitalize on the debate, given that new data suggests the reluctance of many docs to avoid its Cypher stent may have been an overreaction. Moreover, the Times notes that both Medtronic and Abbott Laboratories are expected to gain approval to market their own drug-eluting stents in the US, having already grabbed market share from the Cypher in Europe.

“We think we have a good safety story to tell, and we want to encourage heart patients to talk about it with their doctors,” David Kandzari, chief medical officer at Cordis, tells the Times. “And we want them to know Cypher’s track record when newer, less proven stents reach the market.”

Wall Streeters, however, believe the campaign will be insignificant. “It may offset some of the negative publicity about drug-eluting stents, but I doubt it will shift market share,” Jason Wittes, a medical device stock analyst at Leerink Swann, tells the paper. “It may be too little, too late, as far as branding.”