Merck Dermatology Marketing Director Stars in YouTube Gross-Out Video
Merck dermatology marketing director Kevin Nalty has a side job: as a YouTube comedy star. Mediaweek thinks his output — which includes a bit titled “Farting in Public” — is “sophomoric” but Ad Age’s Bob Garfield regards him as “quite hilarious.” (Context: “Farting in public” has had over 1 million hits.)
Nalty’s fame has even put him on the agenda of the ePharma Summit, where he ran a seminar titled:
You’re on the Wrong Side of the Camera…Or, Learn How to Best Leverage Online Video from Someone Who’s Created a Thousand
Here’s his YouTube channel. He describes himself thus:
Kevin Nalts is a sophomoric adult who does pranks, candid-camera style shorts, sketches, and goofs with his four young kids. By day he is a marketing director of a Fortune 100 healthcare company.
BNET’s take: Seems harmless — most of his stuff is for kids. The reason it’s interesting is that the drug industry is so buttoned-up it’s surprising Merck hasn’t sent him a stiffly worded HR memo.
UPDATE: In BNET’s comments section (below), Nalty says “I don’t do videos about Merck, and generally keep my online persona far from my day job … And for the record, “Farting in Public” is up to 7 million views.”
Jim Edwards, a former managing editor of Adweek, has covered drug marketing at Brandweek for four years, and is a former Knight-Bagehot fellow at Columbia University's business and journalism schools. Follow him on Twitter or send him an email.
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