The pharma industry’s reputation is growing more positive due to the coronavirus. That might not be surprising but it is certainly interesting considering that this was an industry perceived to be more interested in profits than the health of the public. The Harris Poll survey asked Americans about the industry’s reputation and in May, 40% of Americans had a more positive view than before the virus caught fire. What reasons were given for this more favorable response to an industry often heavily criticized by the public? Five letters — COVID. 70% gave COVID as the main reason for why perceptions were positive. This included high fives for the industry’s work on finding a vaccine (58%), finding treatments (56%), developing diagnostic tests (56%) and watching out for medical workers by providing masks and PPE (46%).

Somewhat surprising to me was where Americans are getting their news and information about the industry. Overall, 81% of those surveyed said they had seen, read or watched some kind of news about the pharma industry’s efforts in relation to COVID-19…a sizeable 47% said they got their information from advertising on TV, social media or online. TV was the biggest advertising attention-getter at 31%, followed by social media at 21% and online search or websites—also at 21%—among Americans who saw pharma advertising. Either the pharma advertising is tugging at people’s heart strings well and being hyper-memorable or other industry advertising is falling short. Just seeing advertising from the industry on TV might be reassuring in these darkest days.