Merck's Ad Blitz Draws Fire

After three years on the tube, skating icon Dorothy Hamill may need to hunt for yet a third career.

In part that's because the Olympic gold medalist returned to the spotlight as a television pitchwoman for Vioxx, the blockbuster painkiller Merck (MRK Quote) yanked off the market last fall. But another factor is that Hamill's ads exemplify a type of advertising that some people would like to see banned altogether -- so-called direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising.

Indeed, Hamill's own commercials -- which helped make Vioxx a household name -- could very well fuel the crusade against DTC spots. Ads for Pfizer's (PFE Quote) Celebrex, a drug similar to Vioxx, have already been pulled from the market. Both of the heavily marketed painkillers, known as Cox-2 inhibitors, have been linked to heart attacks. ...