A Google blogger posted a pro-healthcare industry item that criticized filmmaker Michael Moore’s new film, while suggesting Google ads as a way to counter negative publicity.
Upon first seeing this item appear on the Google Health Advertising blog over the weekend, I thought Google’s blogs had been hacked. It has happened before, and considering the crass, cynical content, it’s a bit of a shock coming from the “don’t do evil” search advertising company.
Here’s an excerpt of the post by Lauren Turner, listed as an account planner for Google health ads:
Moore’s film portrays the industry as money and marketing driven, and fails to show healthcare’s interest in patient well-being and care.
Sound familiar? Of course. The healthcare industry is no stranger to negative press. A drug may be a blockbuster one day and tolled as a public health concern the next. News reporters may focus on Pharma’s annual sales and its executives’ salaries while failing to share R&D costs. Or, as is often common, the media may use an isolated, heartbreaking, or sensationalist story to paint a picture of healthcare as a whole.
Turner goes on to lament the lack of acknowledgment of various positive actions by the healthcare industry, before turning the post into a pitch for Google advertising products.
No one has ever assumed Google did not want to make a buck with its products. As a business, they are a search advertising company, first and foremost. We could suspect a Gordon Gekko-like undercurrent existed at Google, but as long as it didn’t receive mention publicly, that was ok.
A followup post by Turner backed off her criticism of Moore’s latest film, but brushed off the negative response from a number of bloggers:
Whether the healthcare industry wants to rebut charges in Mr. Moore’s movie, or whether Mr. Moore wants to challenge the healthcare industry, advertising is a very democratic and effective way to participate in a public dialogue.
That is Google’s opinion, and it’s unrelated to whether we support, oppose or (more likely) don’t have an official position on an issue. That’s the real point I was trying to make, which was less clear because I offered my personal criticism of the movie.
It is very easy to misinterpret the tone of a written message, like an email or a blog post. Turner may be as well-meaning with her words in equal measurement with her lack of communication skills. That’s not something Google should chance with future Health Ads blog posts.
Google should find somebody else to post to that blog. Otherwise, people will think of their recent health advisory council formation as a group of hired ad pitch-writers.
Some people might think that would be evil.
Google, Health, Advertising, Lauren Turner
More: continued here
[...] There was a little kerfuffle after a Google ad sales executive, on a Google health blog, slammed the Michael More movie, Sicko. The executive suggested Google as the place to get anti-Sicko messages out to the public. Public relations executives should be thanking the executive, Lauren Turner, for two key reaons: [...]
I thought the film by Michael Moore “Sicko” was very good and told alot of truth within the health care industry but I have to admit he does tend to twist the truth sometimes to make his point. Taking isolated incedents and blowing it up.
Sicko was great and fair, in fact as a doctor myself at a small town practice in Midwest Ohio I can’t ven tell you how true it really did ring.