Martin Sheen Gets Riled Up Over Prescription Drug Prices in New Ad

SingleCare stages a family affair

Martin Sheen loses his shit over the sky-high cost of medication in this amusing spot created by The Boathouse for prescription savings card provider SingleCare.

Sheen, playing himself, scoffs at a $72.20 bill while standing in line at the drugstore. 

"That's larceny! This is outrageous!" he cries with self-righteous indignation, channeling his POTUS Jed Bartlet character from The West Wing. (The iconic show gets a shout-out, too.) Naturally, SingleCare rides to the rescue.

Oh hey, does one of his famous sons make a cameo? You'll have to watch the 30-second clip to find out. 

SingleCare | Hero

Though it's a cute bit, Charlie Sheen's inclusion feels odd, given the star's well-publicized issues with all sorts of drugs. Maybe it's supposed to be edgy? Regardless, his dad's charisma and gravitas carry the day. 

"Martin Sheen has a long history of lending his voice to causes he believes in and, like most of us, has been closely following the national dialogue around rising prescription drug costs," says SingleCare president and CMO Gaurav Misra. "We believe nobody else could do that better than Martin, who's perhaps as well known for his social and political activism as for his award-winning acting."

As for Charlie, well, he's got lots of free time these days. (And with two more SingleCare commercials in the pipeline, there's still hope for Emilio!)

"I have never advocated or promoted any product that I personally didn't use, so when I was asked to consider a TV ad campaign for SingleCare, I had my work cut out for me," Martin Sheen said in a statement. "Statistics revealed that in most cases, SingleCare fulfills its claim of substantial price reduction on prescription meds. Consequently, after months of investigation and discernment, I agreed to appear as myself in a series of TV ads. This is a cause too important to ignore, and one I will continue to support with SingleCare in their pursuit of lower prescription prices." 

CREDITS

Client: SingleCare
Agency: The Boathouse Agency
Production Company: The Boathouse Studio
Executive Creative Director: Aram Rappaport
Producer: Pepper Humphrey
Media: Two Nil

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David Gianatasio
David Gianatasio is managing editor at Clio Awards.

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