FDA Takes Action on YouTube Video Mentioning Adderall September 30, 2008
Posted by Nalts in : Online Video , 16comments
Shire Pharmaceutical received an FDA Warning letter as a result of a YouTube video by Extreme Makeover (Home Edition) host Ty Pennington. You can see the full letter here at the FDA website.
Shire acknowledged that it was aware of the YouTube video posted by Pennington, and helped promote the content. Here’s part of the script:
“Now once I got on medication it’s just amazing the transformation I made. I -It literally changed my life, and gave me the confidence to achieve my goals, like being an artist. As a kid, I never could have imagined I could do it. But with the medicines like Adderall XR, it’s truly a transformation. I mean talk about an Extreme Makeover, I’m like living it. Now growing up with ADHD can be a little difficult. It’s not easy to communicate with people, including your own family. So you become kind of alienated. You feel like you’re different, and you don’t really fit in. And that, well, can kind of cause you to feel different, and nobody likes to feel different. So as someone who has had ADHD, and is overcoming it, proper treatment has truly changed my life and made an amazing difference.”
The video has been removed from YouTube, and the FDA is claiming it overstates the efficacy of Adderall XR by implying that this product will “transform” patients’ lives and improve their “confidence.”
This is a reminder that even an informal videos on YouTube is an advertisement, and subject to state and government laws pertaining to accuracy and “fair balance” required by pharmaceutical manufacturers.
This means language like this, which is from Adderall’s “prescribing information”: AMPHETAMINES HAVE A HIGH POTENTIAL FOR ABUSE. ADMINISTRATION OF AMPHETAMINES FOR PROLONGED PERIODS OF TIME MAY LEAD TO DRUG DEPENDENCE. PARTICULAR ATTENTION SHOULD BE PAID TO THE POSSIBILITY OF SUBJECTS OBTAINING AMPHETAMINES FOR NONTHERAPEUTIC USE OR DISTRIBUTION TO OTHERS AND THE DRUGS SHOULD BE PRESCRIBED OR DISPENSED SPARINGLY. MISUSE OF AMPHETAMINE MAY CAUSE SUDDEN DEATH AND SERIOUS CARDIOVASCULAR ADVERSE EVENTS.”
Well I suppose that ADHD boy (see video below) isn’t likely to get that pharma sponsor he was hoping for…
New McCain Girl Powns Obama Girl September 30, 2008
Posted by Nalts in : Online Video , 5commentsHey, common. Just a few more weeks of political satire, and we can get back to farts.
YouTube’s JenLuv37 convinced her grandmother, June, to play McCain Girl. This simple video, “Oh John McCain“ features her singing “Oh Johnny.” It’s a celebration of the age gap, and a wonderful parody of the Obama Girl phenomena.
Seems fair game, though. Barely-Political’s Obama Girl has already tossed her hat into the ring of Sarah Palin impersonation videos with this “The Real Sarah Palin” video.
Dollar-Store Domain Names: The New ClownPenis.Fart September 30, 2008
Posted by Nalts in : Online Video , 7commentsDo you remember the classic “Clownpenis.fart” SNL skit that spoofed a financial institution that was so late to eBusiness they had to settle for the worst domain name in history?
Now there’s the Domain Name Dollar Store by QuietLibrary. See this video… “MySpace may be taken but MyShpaesh.com isn’t.” (thanks Jan for this tip).
I’ve said before that I haven’t seen many improv groups translate well to online-video, but here’s another potential exception.
ImprovEverywhere Goes Commercial September 30, 2008
Posted by Nalts in : Online Video , 7comments
Charlie Todd, the genius behind more than 70 “ImprovEverywhere” stunts involving thousands of “agents” is going commercial. Despite a reluctance to commercialize his grassroots productions, Todd is partnering with Yahoo (to support a “go purple” campaign, according to this Advertising Age story).
Todd livs in NYC and teaches improvizational comedy. Every few months he organizes an amazing stunt that involves often hundreds of people performing odd acts in public. Todd has explored television pilots, but has kept the productions small and sponsor free. With the views he’s getting on YouTube, I’d guess he’s not likely far from living off the Partner revenue.
He’s also well underway with an MP3 tour, where spontanious actors will download an MP3 and follow instructions to create visual cinema. Learn more about the MP3 Experiment at ImprovEverywhere.
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Todd in NYC, and he’s a modern Alan Able but oftn without an agenda other than entertainment. Speaking of which, I just watched “Able Raising Cain,” a documentary produced by the famed media hoaxer. He’s currently speaking in Europe but I think I’ve convinced him to participate in a YouTube video in November.
Facial Coding Expert Says Obama’s Ads Not as Effective as McCain’s September 30, 2008
Posted by Nalts in : Online Video , 5commentsThis Advertising Age video explains why facial-coding research (which analyzes facial muscle movement to understand a viewer’s reaction to stimuli) on recent political ads shows that Obama has an edge on selling hope, but McCain is more effective at a good mud slinging.
I wish I had a computer analyzing your reaction to this news, so I could determine if you’ll be voting based on hope or mud slinging. Because the face never lies.
Behind the Scenes of Sarah Palin’s Mock-Disney Trailer: Ice Skater Mom as President September 30, 2008
Posted by Nalts in : Online Video , 6commentsNewTeeVee author Liz Gannes took us behind the scenes to this highly produced and funny mock trailer for a Disney-like film staring Sarah Palin. CollegeHumor.com produced the trailer (see “Sarah Palin Disney Movie“) after being inspired by Matt Damon’s remarks about Palin (see excerpt of those quotes in “F’ing Sarah Palin” satire).
What made this video special for me is that it stared the adorable Liz Cackowski, a former SNL writer who hosts “The Jeanie Tate Show.” You can enjoy the web-only show by subscribing to YouTube chanel “Head in the Oven.” Or watch them all via this YouTube playlist!
YouTube Documentary: “I Want My Three Minutes Back” September 27, 2008
Posted by Nalts in : Online Video , 31comments
NewTeeVee teased us last month about first-time director Chuck Potter (thirdcareerfilms) and his new YouTube documentary, “I Want My Three Minutes Back.” Now the film has a website with a blog, the trailer and some more information about Potter’s efforts to get the new film into film festivals.
While it’s true there’s only a niche of people that even know what a YouTube weblebrity is (I’ve only been recognized once at LAX), the story is deeper. It’s about the struggles of amateurs who have “overnight success,” and their years of effort to turn online-videos into a passion-filled career.
I missed the debut this month in California, but I’m looking forward to seeing how Chuck tells this story.
Maria Sansone Made me a Yellow Pages Video September 27, 2008
Posted by Nalts in : Online Video , 18comments
So in this recent video discussing amateur versus pro content, I mentioned Maria Sanson. “Maria Sanson… she could read the yellow pages and it would amuse us.”
Showing that someone has either read “How to Get Popular on YouTube Without Any Talent” or is a quick learner, Sanson replies almost immediately with this piece. Stay for the whole thing, and dream the rest.
Someone find out if those Spas are in NYC. And if they are, Maria… when are we doing a collaboration video?
P.S. Sxephil and I got a note from YouTube explaining the pro/amateur content, and about how they’re neutral. It seems that if these pro creators are getting high visibility it’s because they have sponsors paying for premium placement or they’re just plain good like PopTub. Wait… I can do better than that for the PopTub press release: “PopTub is the best thing that’s come to YouTube since me.”
Amateur Versus Professional Video on YouTube: What’s Next? September 26, 2008
Posted by Nalts in : Online Video , 18commentsSlowly the top 100 YouTube “most subscribed” channels are professional content providers. But sxephil (a YouTube amateur who blogs about daily news) maintains that the amateurs “are the future” and YouTube should pay more attention to them, rather than become a Hulu.
I explore this debate in my video today… Also note a new trick I’m experimenting with at the end of the video. I run a few seconds of black and then add some links to other videos that are related or that I want to promote. You won’t see those unless you have “annotations” turned on.
A few of the links at the end of this video aren’t mine. But this technique is a smart way to keep people viewing your content, rather than selecting the random video that might appear over the player as “related.” One of the easiest things to do when you’re lost in a YouTube binge is select the next video it recommends.
So whatya think? Amateurs versus Pros. What’s ahead?
Maria Sansone’s PopTub Daily and the Future of Amateur versus Professional Content on YouTube September 26, 2008
Posted by Nalts in : Online Video , 29commentsRemember Maria Sansone of YahooTV’s The 9? Yeah. The one that was flirting with me just two years ago?
She left the Yahoo building. But don’t worry. She’s back on a video site people watch. She’s got PopTub Daily on YouTube, and it’s already showing itself as fairly topical. For starters, she reviewed my Recession Commuter. And for me that’s like waking up and finding Gene Hackman and Charles Grodin in my kitchen making me coffee. I’m like woooooooooo!.
Here’s the episode. Now lest you think my review of this show is all about me, I need to point out why it’s going to succeed.
- First, it has Maria Sansone. She could read the phone book and we’d watch her perky style. As long as it doesn’t feel “outside looking in” the show will do well. In other words, it should review what is “highest rated” and not just “ripped from TV” stuff that happens to get a lot of views that day.
- It’s quick and it catches you up on interesting trends. I’m adding it to my RSS reader so I don’t miss anything. Like the Rhett and Skimpy Supernotes thing. This was only days old when she reviewed it, which tells us they were lucky or tape the show more frequently than weekly.
- Third, Maria Sansone is that girl in highschool that you wanted to date, but knew it wouldn’t happen. But she still made you feel like it was possible. Oh don’t get me wrong. We still love our Daisy Whitneys.
- Sxephil disses PopTub and other professionally produced shows because it’s the “grassroots shows” that YouTube should focus on because “we are the future.” (See 1:50 of this clip). Never mind that PopTub reviewed his show in one of the first episodes. This reminds me of the quote, “I think there is a world market for about five computers.” Thomas J.Watson. In those few words, the YouTube top 10 most-subscribed kid just gave the kiss of death to himself and other top YouTube amateurs.
- Finally, and most importantly, I think that the needs of early adopters of YouTube is radically different of those mainstream audiences that are learning how to subscribe and watch regularly. That’s not yet reflected in the “most subscribed’ content because it takes a very long time to overthrow the leaders. As new people join, they naturally go to the “most subscribed” to decide what to watch. Eventually, watch for the well-produced comedy channels (Mediocrefilms, Waverly Films, Wicked Awesome, etc) to overtake the individual guys with their cameras.
Note- that certainly doesn’t mean the 15 minutes of fame for amateurs is up.
In fact, Sxephil will probably have a half million subscribers by early next year. But while the early community was about the amateur with a webcam, the late adopters want stuff that looks a little more like other entertainment venues. The current rat pack of most-subscribed will survive and flourish if they can develop thick skin, reinvent themselves, and grow with their audiences. The winning amateurs will be those that rely less on the “I’m the everyday guy like you- let’s be friends” and more on the “hey this is short, funny, topical and clever content… join the party.”
