This post is part of a series on celebrity spokespeople who ended up doing serious harm to the brands they were hired to promote, or vice versa. See how we rank the 20 top spokesperson fiascos.

Remember the early part of 2008? Britney Spears was nuts. The economy was not in the toilet as much and commercials for Pfizer's (NYSE:PFE) anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor blanketed the nation's broadcast and cable airwaves. Good times.

Those Lipitor commercials -- in case you have forgotten -- featured medical scientist Dr. Robert Jarvik Jarvick speaking about the heart disease that killed his father and urging the public to ask their doctor about the pill. Jarvick, Jarvik, the "inventor" of the artificial heart, looked healthy and vigorous as he rowed on a sunny lake. As the New York Times pointed out, the ad was a pack of lies.
Jarvick Jarvik is a medical doctor who is not licensed to practice medicine and who may have exaggerated his role in developing the artificial heart. Plus, he does not even row. Talk about truth in advertising. After members of Congress balked, Pfizer pulled the campaign that reportedly cost it $256 million. Pfizer is going to have to figure another way to bolster sales of Lipitor before it comes off patent in 2010. Maybe James "Tony Soprano" Gandolfini can be persuaded to urge people to "whack" their cholesterol. Just a suggestion.

The sad thing is that Jarvik Jarvick is not the sleaziest pitchman in the drug industry. Those would be the celebrities who go on TV to "raise awareness" about a disease. Drug companies often pay them too. It's hardly surprising the U.S. is the only country to allow drug companies to sell directly to consumers. Whatever benefits these ads create are outweighed by the problems they cause.

Read the entire series