Business Week e.biz -- Home Page

Drugstores: Where to Find Relief Online

The TV spot features a jumpy guy standing in a drugstore aisle. A ninny clerk just can't understand the poor guy's pleas that he needs something because the "general is having trouble deploying the troops." The message: Tap in "laxatives" at www.drugstore.com, and your discomfort will soon be over.

It's part of a side-splitting campaign taking aim at your worst drugstore nightmares. Ad agency McCann-Erickson Worldwide has crafted the spots for Seattle upstart drugstore.com Inc., which filed for a public offering in May and is at the forefront of the Internet's latest attack on brick-and-mortar retailers.

There's just one problem: Even with a $17.95 overnight-shipping charge, you have to wait one day for your remedy. The company insists the ad stresses the discomfort of seeking information in a store, not the countdown to relief. But at that rate, "the general" could very well surrender his privacy for some more immediate relief.By Joan O'c. Hamilton