Jarvik ad for Pfizer's Lipitor (source: Pharma Marketing Blog)Drug maker Pfizer yielded to pressure from a Congressional committee and pulled deceptive Lipitor ads featuring Dr. Robert Jarvik. In one of the ads, created by the Kaplan Thaler Group, Dr. Jarvik is shown apparently rowing a boat, but the rowing was in fact done by a stunt double. In the ads, Dr. Jarvik also claims to be a user of Lipitor, but he didn't actually start taking the medication until after he was hired by Pfizer to promote it. The House Committee was also concerned that the ads presented Dr. Jarvik as offering the public medical advice, when in reality he is not a medical doctor, but a medical engineer.

Virgin Atlantic has flown a jumbo jet from London to Amsterdam fueled by bio fuel derived from a mixture of Brazilian babassu nuts and coconuts. But is this really green progress, or just greenwashing? Virgin Atlantic's head, Richard Branson, called the flight a "vital breakthrough" for the airline industry. "This pioneering flight will enable those of us who are serious about reducing our carbon emissions to go on developing the fuels of the future." But environmentalists had a different take, calling it a "gimmick," and a publicity stunt. Dr Doug Parr of Greenpeace called it a "high-altitude greenwash," saying, "Instead of looking for a magic green bullet, Virgin should focus on the real solution to this problem and call for a halt to relentless airport expansion."

As CMD recently reported, a federal judge ordered the Wikleaks website shut down. The site allows whistleblowers to post documents anonymously. Lawyers for a dozen news and public interest organizations, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, American Civil Liberties Union and Public Citizen, asked the judge to rescind his order. On February 29, Judge Jeffrey White reversed the ruling, reports the New York Times. The judge "acknowledged that the bank's request posed serious First Amendment questions and might constitute unjustified prior restraint." He also criticized the ability of online technology to evade legal jurisdiction, saying that "people can do some good things and people can do some terrible things without accountability." Thanks to the reversal, Wikileaks is again available via its U.S. web domain, Wikileaks.org.