Want to find your RealAge? Here’s an important warning before you get started

The man behind the curtain

This has got to be one of the most disgraceful come-ons ever conceived.

Here’s all you do: Spend a few minutes filling out a very detailed survey, answering numerous questions about your health, family health history, annual household income, job status, number of orgasms per week (seriously!), and then hand the survey over to several drug companies.

Who in their right mind would do that?

Millions of people would. In fact, they’ve already done it!

Why? Because they’re under the impression that they’re giving their information to “America’s Doctor” — Dr. Oz.

But Dr. Oz is little more than a figurehead in this deal. Officially, he’s a spokesman and advisor. It’s GlaxoSmithKline and other drug giants who are genuinely interested in what you’re willing to divulge.

They know where you live

You may have seen the ads on various websites, inviting you to take the RealAge survey. Or you might have caught Dr. Oz promoting RealAge on his own show or on one of his many Oprah appearances.

It’s an intriguing concept: Answer a few questions about your health, diet, and other habits, and RealAge calculates your “real age.”

But this is just the start of your relationship with RealAge.

After the RealAge computer crunches your info, you’ll receive personalized “Grow Younger” strategies.

You never give your name, but that doesn’t matter — your e-mail address gets flagged with plenty of information to identify you as maybe “a candidate for a statin drug who doesn’t get enough sleep” or maybe “menopausal with high blood pressure.”

So, for instance, if you admitted that you rarely exercise, RealAge might send you an e-mail with an article about the importance of staying physically active.

Did you tell the RealAge survey that you don’t socialize much? You might get an e-mail detailing the longevity benefits of making regular contact with friends and family.

According to a 2009 New York Times report, RealAge acts as a “clearinghouse” for Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and other drug giants. So those e-mails you receive will sometimes be sponsored by drug companies that offer products that just HAPPEN to treat the most private health problems you shared in the RealAge survey.

If you carefully read the privacy policy (and who reads those things carefully — or at all?), you’ll be reassured that advertising clients never see anyone’s personal information.

But they don’t need to. RealAge matches up their sponsors’ products with your health issues and drops the ads directly into your e-mail inbox.

That’s the reality of RealAge: Your privacy may be technically intact, but you’ve made yourself an easy target for drug companies.

Thanks for that, Dr. Oz! We didn’t have nearly enough drug advertising in our lives already.

Sources:
“Online Age Quiz Is a Window for Drug Makers” Stephanie Clifford, New York Times, 3/26/09, nytimes.com