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The Marketing Campaign That Killed Over 200,000 People
How OxyContin became a hit in the US and created a heroin addiction
If you’re a marketer, chances are that you love talking about your brand.
But we don’t always promote products like vegan snacks or healthy sodas that we know would help others.
What if the product you market kills people?
As in: what if your brand caused a heroin crisis in the US, destroyed families, and killed 200,000 Americans?
That’s exactly what happened with OxyContin.
Shortly after its release, OxyContin became a medical breakthrough, “a long-lasting narcotic that could help patients suffering from moderate to severe pain.”
Almost every doctor prescribed it to their patients, even those with moderate pain. Pharmacies opened their doors to thousands of people waiting in line for Oxy every day.
Little did they know that the salvaging pill would kill them slowly.
OxyContin owes its “success” to marketing. A team of genius/evil marketers targeted the right people and promoted the pill with the right campaigns, even though they knew the product was addictive.
