Currax Pharmaceuticals is kicking off the new year with a new direct-to-consumer campaign for its weight loss medication Contrave.
The “Cravings Don’t Own Me” campaign includes the company’s first-ever broadcast TV ad for the drug. To start, the on-screen and digital campaign will roll out in 10 markets across the U.S., according to Currax’s launch announcement Thursday, most of them located in the South and the Midwest.
True to the campaign’s title, the commercial features a rewritten version of the 1963 classic song “You Don’t Own Me.” Rather than asking not to be changed by one’s partner, Currax’s version addresses cravings directly, with lyrics like, “You don’t own me; don’t try to tempt me in any way.”
The 90-second ad focuses on three individuals, all of whom are initially shown battling a junk food craving: a bag of chips at the office, a bowl of chocolates in the kitchen and a box of cookies on the counter. With the help of Contrave, however, all three are shown overcoming their cravings—moving the tempting foods out of sight and focusing instead on spending time with coworkers and family members.
Throughout those scenes, a voice-over and on-screen text describe how Contrave is “designed to work in two ways: to help reduce hunger and control cravings.” The commercial goes on to claim that “people taking Contrave along with diet and exercise lost about two to four times more weight versus diet and exercise alone,” with text onscreen clarifying that across three 56-week trials, those who took Contrave recorded an average weight loss of 3.7% to 8.1% compared to a range of 1.3% to 4.9% for the placebo group.
To close out the ad, its three stars take turns declaring, “I chose Contrave, and I took control, so I could lose weight and keep it off,” while the final line of the song parody plays: “Contrave helps keep those cravings away.”
The commercial includes a link to the campaign’s accompanying website, which features more information about Contrave, patient testimonials and details about Currax’s CurAccess program, which caps the cost of a monthly prescription at $99 regardless of insurance coverage.
Derrick Gastineau, Currax’s head of marketing, suggested in this week’s announcement that the new campaign puts a twist on typical pharma commercials.
“When developing this campaign, we prioritized ensuring that we were bringing forward the patient voice and the lived experience of individuals with obesity,” Gastineau said. “In market research, we spoke with real-life patients and the resounding feedback was, ‘This isn’t like most pharma ads. This speaks to me, because this is what it’s really like to live with these challenges.’”
He added, “This is an important opportunity to educate individuals about the range of FDA-approved obesity treatment options available, empowering them to make informed decisions about their health.”