• The New York Times, Wednesday, August 20, 2008 10:45 AM

Tens of millions of girls and young women have been vaccinated against cervical cancer in the U.S. and Europe in the two years since Merck's Gardasil and GlaxoSmithKline's Cervarix were given government approval in many countries and, often, recommended for universal use among females ages 11 to 26. The lightning-fast transition from newly minted vaccine to must-have injection represents a triumph of what the manufacturers call education--and their critics call marketing.

Award-winning advertising has promoted the vaccines. Before the film "Sex and the City," some moviegoers in the U.S. saw ads for Gardasil. On YouTube and in advertisements on popular shows like "Law and Order," a multiethnic cast of young professionals urges girls to become "one less statistic" by getting vaccinated.

The vaccine makers have also provided money for activities by patients' and women's groups, doctors and medical experts, lobbyists and political organizations interested in the disease, sometimes in ways that skirt disclosure requirements or obscure the companies' involvement. But even critics of the marketing efforts recognize the benefits of the vaccines.

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