Dear Prospective Ad Agency: I Would Like to Be Played by Julianne Moore

Seeing nefarious deception where there’s perhaps just silliness and embarrassment, a Congressional committee wants information about the use of a rowing body double for Robert Jarvik, MD, in the overplayed Lipitor TV ads. According to today’s NYT, the committee sent out letters yesterday to 9 advertising firms (IMC2; the Maya Group; Cline, Davis, & Mann; ARS Group; Guideline; Ipsos-ASI; Ipsos-Understanding; the Kaplan Thaler Group; and Unit 7), asking for relevant records and raising the musical question Just how many agencies does it take to create a TV ad campaign?

The committee wants information regarding payment made to a body double, who was revealed yesterday by the NYT to be Seattle rower and Jarvik look-alike Dennis Williams. Thanks to the NYT, the committee members can now locate the remuneration figure by reading the April 2006 newsletter of the Lake Washington Rowing Club, which reveals that member Williams was paid $550 per day for his Lipitor stunt-double stint. (Compare this rate with the $1.35 million that the Pfizer contract provides to Jarvik for 2 years of Lipitor pitching.)

The NYT also reports that the committee wants to know if Jarvik body doubles were used in other versions of the Lipitor ads. The congressional inquiry conjures up the notion that Pfizer has collected a small, specialized army of Robert Jarviks, ready to stand in for the pitchman whether he’s rowing, batting, kicking a field goal, triple jumping, high jumping, ice dancing, or 2-man luging with himself. But I ask Why stop with an athletic body double? Why not just collect your big fat check, while someone much better looking than you impersonates you throughout the entire ad?