Leave It To Beaver… And Leave It To PhRMA
7 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // May 1st, 2008 // 10:27 am
Would Mrs. Cleaver be proud of her Theodore? Baby boomers may relate to this more than members of Generations X, Y and Z, but the Beaver is about to appear on television screens as part of an ongoing informercial series produced by PhRMA.
For those who don’t remember ‘Leave It To Beaver,’ please look here. The series star, Jerry Mathers, who was otherwise known to millions of black-and-white television viewers as ‘The Beav,’ is the latest ‘real person’ who will soon appear on ‘Sharing Miracles,’ a regularly updated 30-minute program that highlights the travails someone has endured as the result of a particular illness. The underlying message is how treatment can help.
As for the Beav, he suffers from high cholesterol, diabetes and high blood pressure. He says this happened after he retired from acting - many years after the hit series had come and gone - and then began eating too much. As Wally would have said: “Gee, Beav, you sure messed up this time.” We can’t tell you more about how he messed up, because the program hasn’t aired yet. But we have a hunch that Eddie Haskell would be smirking.
Scott
Geez Beav, don’t you think by associating yourself with that creepy lobbyist organization PhRMA you’re going to kill whatever shred of credibility you once had?
Doug Bremner
Is he going to mention that diet and lifestyle changes work as well as (or better than) medications for those conditions? I doubt it. Maybe someone should tell him to get off the couch.
Jack2
I’d bet a thousand dollars diet and/or exercise are mentioned as excellent treatments for high cholesterol, high blood pressure or diabetes in this program. If you watch it Ed let us know.
Bev
Yuck. There goes Pharm again, stealing away one of my nice childhood memories in yet another attempt to bring their approval ratings up from the basement.
I hope the commedians have a field day with “The Beav” and give it “The Heave.”
David Hamilton
Mathers has been a spokespod for pharma for a while. I wrote about him back in 2003 or so when he started shilling for Enbrel. Can’t find a link to the story, but here’s a reference through the National Psoriasis Foundation: http://www.psoriasis.org/news/press/2002/20020516_mathers.php
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