Yes to Yaz! (exclamation point optional)

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Saw a commercial for this contraceptive the other night. Actually really like the name. Marketed by Berlex Labs, Yaz is sort of a follow-up to the company’s already successful Yasmin oral contraceptive. I think Yaz has less estrogen in it than Yasmin, and Berlex claims it can treat emotional and physical premenstrual symptoms, and even improve moderate acne! Nice. Improve your skin – Improve your sex life – Time to protect yourself! Well done guys.

So the brand name. Yeah, I like it. Especially for a pharmaceutical brand name. It seems at least some of the branding folk in women’s healthcare kinda “get it”. Yasmin, Seasonale, Alesse, Mircette, Cyclessa – all relatively appealing brand names. And now Yaz, which, in my opinion, raises the bar even higher. For starters, how many pharmaceutical brand names have only three letters? And how many are as easily pronounced as “Yaz”?? I also love that the brand name has energy, emotion and personality, which is very consistent with the product’s marketing. Heck, I’m screaming the name and I don’t even see an exclamation point next to it! Lastly, it smartly alludes to “Yasmin”, and implies a relationship between the two products and the company that develops them. A shorter name for a lower estrogen product with the same progestin (drsp, or drospirenone). Makes at least some sense to this naming consultant.

So I like the name. I just wish they would have put a little more thought and consideration into the COPY. My goodness people, who’s doing your writing for you?? Having just touted the brand name I have no qualms about including the following piece of dreck pulled from the Yaz website:

One of the great things about being a woman is that you’ve got so many options, and the power to make your own decisions about them. You decide who you’ll hang out with, how you’ll spend your free time, what job you’ll take. This includes birth control options, too.

Huh? When did women get the power to make their own decisions?? Is someone pulling my leg?? And wait, don’t I, as a man, also have that right? Did I lose that right?? I’m pretty sure I can still hang out with who I want, though I’ll admit my kids pretty much do monopolize my free time, so I guess I don’t have much choice there. But still, I’m pretty sure the right to make your own decisions is a right shared by both men and women. Nothing exclusive about that right, RIGHT?

So good name guys! Poor copy, but good name!!

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