As a creative director working in healthcare here in New York, I’ve seen many of the same concepts and cliché images appear on the concept wall over and over again. Thankfully most are killed at the tissue stage but there is still a steady supply that make it through.

In a moment of frustration, I started collecting the worst offenders (mostly print). Not only have these ideas been done, they’ve been done to death. I first heard the actual term “Pharmageddon” from Billy Ryan while I was at JWT. His talent as a writer is only matched by his level of sarcasm.

I consider this site a warning to other creatives in healthcare: If it’s on this site, don’t do it. Keep thinking and go farther. You can find a better way. You can talk about hidden dangers without showing an iceberg, or using dominoes to talk about disease progression.

These ads are the generics of the healthcare industry.

(Also, so as not to be just a cranky CD, I included a few ads that I think are moving our industry in a good direction.)

Healthcare advertising is often a challenge due to heavy regulation or the need to deliver detailed scientific data to specialists. But that’s still no excuse for being creatively lazy.

Please send all comments to: figrod@protonmail.com