Advil
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Advil is a brand of pain-relieving medication, currently owned by Haleon. The primary active ingredient in most Advil-branded products is ibuprofen, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug.<ref name=britannica>Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. "ibuprofen." Encyclopedia Britannica.</ref> Advil has been called a "megabrand" because it offers various "products for a wide range of pain, head cold, and sleep problems."<ref name="insights">McQueen, Josh (2012). Building Brand Trust: Discovering the Advertising Insights Behind Great Brands. Xlibris Corporation. p. 292. Template:ISBN.</ref>
History
The brand first entered the American market in 1984 through Whitehall<ref name=cases>Template:Cite book</ref> (itself a division of Wyeth, which was purchased by Pfizer in 2009),<ref name="nature">Sheridan, C. "Pfizer swallows Wyeth, validates niche buster." Nat Biotechnol 27, 218–219 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0309-218.</ref> the same year ibuprofen gained Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for over-the-counter (OTC) sales in the United States (being available via prescription since 1974).<ref name="nineteen Eighty-Four">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Full-page advertisement, Columbus Ledger, November 25, 1984, p. 195.</ref> Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) combined their consumer healthcare departments into a dual venture in mid-2019; in 2022, this joint venture was spun-off into the newly conceived Haleon.<ref name="royal">Template:Cite web</ref> In early 2025, Pfizer sold its entire stake in Haleon for over three billion dollars.<ref name="reuters">Template:Cite web</ref>
Advil and a competing OTC ibuprofen brand, Nuprin, were first announced to the public on May 18, 1984, the same day that the FDA approved OTC sales of ibuprofen. Within a week of the announcement, Advil was available for purchase at some stores.<ref>"Upjohn drug gets FDA OK", Kalamazoo Gazette, May 19, 1984, front page.</ref><ref>Advertisement, Courier News, May 26, 1984, p. 4.</ref> Within ten years of having a market presence, it outsold Bayer Aspirin and was a fierce competitor to Tylenol (primarily a brand of acetaminophen).<ref name="excellence">Template:Cite book</ref> In the mid-1990s, for example, it held 13% of the multibillion-dollar over-the-counter American market for analgesics.<ref name="ibuprofen">Template:Cite book</ref>
Varieties
In 2024, there were 23 varieties of Advil available on the U.S. market including:<ref name="fda">Template:Cite book</ref>
- Advil
- Advil Liqui-Gels
- Advil Migraine Liqui-Gels
- Infant's Advil
- Pediatric Advil
- Junior Strength Advil
- Children's Advil
- Flavored Children's Advil
- Advil Dual Action With Acetaminophen (Ibuprofen/acetaminophen)
- Advil PM (with Diphenhydramine)
- Advil Cold And Sinus (with Pseudoephedrine)
- Advil Congestion Relief (with Phenylephrine)
- Advil Allergy Sinus (with Chlorpheniramine and Pseudoephedrine)
- Advil Allergy And Congestion Relief (with Chlorpheniramine and Phenylephrine)
- Advil Multi-Symptom Cold & Flu (with Chlorpheniramine and Phenylephrine)
- Children's Advil Cold (with Pseudoephedrine)
- Children's Advil Allergy Sinus (with Chlorpheniramine and Pseudoephedrine)
Marketing
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Marketing campaigns for the brand (some including celebrities like Regis Philbin) have pushed slogans such as "Take Action. Take Advil." and have been presented under the premise of "True Advil Stories";<ref name="philbin">Template:Cite book</ref> the brand has also been involved in sponsorship deals such as with Major League Pickleball.<ref name="pickleball">Template:Cite news</ref> In late 2024, Haleon, "the parent company of brands like Advil, Tums, Centrum and Sensodyne[,] announced that it is the official consumer healthcare product partner of U.S. Soccer."<ref name="mm+m">Template:Cite web</ref>