Life Alert Emergency Response

Life Alert Emergency Response, Inc. is a nationwide[1] American company, with headquarters in Encino, California, which provides services that help elderly contact emergency services. The company was founded in 1987. The company's system consists of a main unit and a small wireless help button that is worn by the user at all times. Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop appeared in commercials for Life Alert starting in 1992, stating that he used one. [2] He remained a spokesman for the company until his death in 2013.

Life Alert redirects here.

Life Alert Emergency Response
TypePersonal Emergency Response Services
Founded1987 (1987)
FoundersIsaac Shepher, Zohar Loshitzer, and Arik Amir
HeadquartersEncino, California
Websitewww.lifealert.com

Service

Life Alert's medical alarm offering includes a main unit connected to a telephone line and a pendant-shaped device, typically worn on a necklace or a wristband. Pressing a button on the pendant contacts a Life Alert call center, and a Life Alert dispatcher then contacts 9-1-1. The company requires service contract with a minimum term of three years.[3]

Lawsuits

In September 1991, nine district attorneys[4][5] sued Life Alert for high pressure sales tactics and misleading consumers about how the Life Alert system sends calls to emergency service providers.[6]

The lawsuit said that Life Alert had falsely claimed that its system had special access 911, that local emergency agencies react faster to Life Alert calls compared to other 911 calls, and that Life Alert customers receive preferential treatment from public emergency service providers.[6] District attorneys said that Life Alert's sales representatives had fabricated fictional stories about victims of crime in order to instill fear and anxiety in people.[7] Life Alert's sales training manual encouraged sales representatives to say that people were in danger without the system and to "go for the emotional sale, not a logical sale."[8][9] Life Alert's sales representatives would initially quote an inflated price and then quoted a lower price in order to make the person think they were receiving a large discount.[10] Prosecutors said that Life Alert sold systems for $1,700 to $5,000 that could be rented from local hospitals for $25 per month, and that the systems did little more than relaying calls to 911 operators who then called for emergency service providers.[11]

Aside from the grey-haired fallen lady, another situation illustrated in ads involved "a man suffers a heart attack, alone in his garden." The ads are not being restricted: it is the "deceptive sales pitches" that are the focus of a court injunction.[12] In response to the lawsuit, a representative said that Life Alert is a burglar-alarm company[13] that offers an additional communication device.[14] The company later claimed in court that, while there may have been some isolated incidents of exaggerations by salespeople, there was no evidence of a pattern of such practice by the company.[15]

  • 1992: the Arizona Attorney General filed a lawsuit against Life Alert for consumer fraud.[16] Life Alert agreed to stop soliciting business in Arizona, although it can continue to provide service to existing customers in Arizona.[16]

Trademarks

The phrase "I've fallen and I can't get up" was originally used in 1987 television commercials and trademarked in September 1992 by LifeCall, which went out of business in 1993.[17] After LifeCall's trademark expired, a similar phrase, "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up!", was registered by Life Alert Emergency Response, Inc., in October 2002.[18] The classic commercial featuring this slogan was ranked number one by USA Today in its 2007 list of the most memorable TV commercials from the past 25 years.[19]

Slogan's history

"I've fallen, and I can't get up!" is a catchphrase of the late 1980s and early 1990s popular culture based upon a line from a United States-based television commercial. This line was spoken by actress Dorothy McHugh[20] in a television commercial for a medical alarm and protection company called LifeCall.[21]

The motivation behind the systems is that subscribers, mostly seniors as well as disabled people, would receive a pendant which, when activated, would allow the user to speak into an audio receiving device and talk directly with a dispatch service, without the need to reach a telephone. The service was designed to appeal particularly to seniors who lived alone and who might experience a medical emergency, such as a fall, which would leave them alert but immobile and unable to reach the telephone.

In 1989,[22] LifeCall began running commercials that contained a scene wherein an elderly woman, identified by a dispatcher as "Mrs. Fletcher", uses the medical alert pendant after having fallen in the bathroom. After falling, Mrs. Fletcher speaks the phrase "I've fallen, and I can't get up!", after which the dispatcher informs her that he is sending help.

Edith Fore (née Edith Americus DeVirgilis; 1916–1997) portrayed Mrs. Fletcher.[23][24] Although a stuntperson performed the fall itself, Fore said that she created the "I've fallen" line while discussing the accident with LifeCall.[23]

Legacy coverage

By 1990, the Phoenix New Times reported that "From coast to coast, from playground to barroom, an enfeebled whine rings out across the land. All together now: 'I've fallen . . . and I can't get up!'" The catchphrase appeared on t-shirts, novelty records, and in standup comedy.[23] In 1992, a sample of the catchphrase was featured in parody artist "Weird Al" Yankovic's song "I Can't Watch This" (a parody of M.C. Hammer's "U Can't Touch This"). The phrase was parodied in several television shows including The Golden Girls, Family Matters, Roseanne, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.[25] In 1993, Gary Larson drew a Far Side cartoon featuring the "I've fallen, and I can't get up" building. A sample of the phrase was also featured in a track used only in the Japanese Sega Saturn version of Fighting Vipers when the player is in the training stage.

Slogan trademark history

According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, after first applying in October 1990, LifeCall registered the phrase "I've fallen, and I can't get up" as a trademark in September 1992 until its status was cancelled in 1999 (LifeCall went out of business in 1993).[26] In October 2002, the similar phrase "Help! I've fallen, and I can't get up!" became a registered trademark of Life Alert Emergency Response, Inc. The registration was cancelled in May 2013.[27] A new registration was granted in May 2014.[28] Life Alert had filed for the phrase "Help, I've fallen & can't get up!" in March 2001, but the application was abandoned in November 2001.[29] In June 2007, the phrase "I've fallen, and I can't get up!" also became a registered trademark of Life Alert.[30] Both phrases are currently used on their website as well as in their commercials.[31]

Cultural references

Founders and notable employees
  • Founders (1987): Isaac Shepher, Zohar Loshitzer, and Arik Amir.[32]
  • Notable employee (35 years): Mark Turenshine (1944-2016), American-Israeli basketball player[33]

Viability

Even when an offer is not fraudulent,[34] another consideration is whether, even if the company supports it, their phone link to the center will still exist.[35]

AARP's suggested cutoff regarding older devices and services is that if it's "from 2012 or before" it is "almost certainly on borrowed time."[36]

See also

References
  1. Brian Bandell (January 8, 2013). "Fort Lauderdale building faces foreclosure after Wells Fargo Bolts". BizJournals.com (Phoenix). Retrieved December 15, 2022.
  2. A Call for Help, December 22, 2008, retrieved December 13, 2022
  3. "Four Reasons We Don't Recommend Life Alert". Medical Alert Buyers Guide. October 31, 2018. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  4. "Suit Targets Life Alert". The New York Times (source: Associated Press). September 13, 1991. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
  5. The NYTimes-published story named 'Life Emergency Response Inc' "based in Chatsworth" as the vendor and "Life Alert system made by Life Emergency Response" as the product
  6. "Life Alert to Pay $1.35 Million". The Napa Valley Register. Napa, California. p. 2.
  7. Bob Klose (February 1, 1992). "Court Prohibits Hard Sell of Service". Santa Rosa, California: The Press Democrat. p. B1.
  8. Reynolds Holding (September 13, 1991). "$2 Million California Lawsuit Claims Life Alert Pressures, Deceives Elderly". Arizona Daily Star. Tucson, Arizona. p. A11.
  9. Amy Pyle; Jack Cheevers (September 15, 1991). "Suit Accuses Alarm Firm of Pressuring Elderly". The Los Angeles Times.
  10. "'Fallen and Can't Get Up' Firm Told to Change Pitch". The Times Herald (Gannett News Service). Port Huron, Michigan.
  11. "Help! Life Alert Is Falling and May Not Get Up". The Sheboygan Press (Associated Press). Sheboygan, Wisconsin. p. 19.
  12. Amy Pyle (February 1, 1992). "Judge Limits Sales Pitches by Life Alert : Business: Temporary order follows lawsuit claiming that firm uses deceptive practices in selling emergency response system to elderly". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
  13. Isaac Guzman (December 31, 1994). "Emergency Loans Set a Record in 1994 : Business: The state's lending agency speedily procured more than $21 million from local lenders for 282 businesses damaged in the Northridge earthquake". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 19, 2022. Life Alert Emergency Response Co., now of Sherman Oaks, a home security company.
  14. Lynn Simross (November 6, 1991). "Safe at Home". The Los Angeles Times. p. E7.
  15. Argus Petaluma. "Life Alert Trial Gets Under Way". Courier (Associated Press). Petaluma, California. p. 13A.
  16. Brent Whitting; Jeers Woods (July 16, 1992). "Emergency-call Firm Settles Suit". Arizona Republic. Phoenix, Arizona. p. B1.
  17. "'I've fallen and I can't get up!' trademark info". United States Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved September 23, 2009.
  18. "'Help, I've fallen and I can't get up!' trademark info". United States Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved September 23, 2009.
  19. "Ads we can't get out of our heads". USA Today. July 22, 2007. Retrieved September 23, 2009.
  20. 374, Dorothy McHugh, American actress (1907-1995), 1907-08-14, 1995-07-19
  21. "ACTRESS DIES; KNOWN FOR 'I'VE FALLEN AND I CAN'T GET UP'". The Morning Call. July 23, 1995.
  22. "I've fallen and I can't get up!". Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS). United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Archived from the original on December 16, 2018. Retrieved December 16, 2018.
  23. Webb, Dewey (December 19, 1990). "CATCH A "FALLEN" STAR". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved December 16, 2018.
  24. Holmes, Anna (August 15, 1997). "Monitor". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 16, 2018.
  25. "A Brief History behind the Phrase: "I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up!"". May 19, 2020.
  26. "US Serial, Registration, or Reference No. 74108242". Trademark Status & Document Retrieval (TSDR) System. United States Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved December 16, 2018.
  27. "U.S. Serial, Registration, or Reference No. 76233401". Trademark Status & Document Retrieval (TSDR) System. United States Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
  28. "U.S. Serial, Registration, or Reference No. 86078356". Trademark Status & Document Retrieval (TSDR) System. United States Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
  29. "U.S. Serial, Registration, or Reference No. 76233402". Trademark Status & Document Retrieval (TSDR) System. United States Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
  30. "U.S. Serial, Registration, or Reference No. 78911769". Trademark Status & Document Retrieval (TSDR) System. United States Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
  31. "Saving a LIFE from potential catastrophe Every 11 Minutes!". Life Alert. Life Alert Emergency Response, Inc. Retrieved December 16, 2018.
  32. Life Alert Emergency Response, Inc. Company Profile, Dun & Bradstreet, Life Alert. Company Description: Key Principal: Isaac Shepher
  33. "Mark Turenshine, NBA star, Life Alert general manager, 71". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. March 2, 2016.
  34. "Beware of free Life Alert bracelet scam targeting AARP members". AARP Magazine. Watch out for a call offering a free Life Alert bracelet to AARP members. It's a phishing scam, and your best bet is to hang up!
  35. "Mobil Phone Companies To End 3G Service in 2022". AARP Magazine. Will your Personal Emergency Response System (PERS) - also commonly called a Medical-Alert, Life-Alert, or Fall Monitor - be affected?
  36. "Major Mobile Carriers are Retiring 3G Services in 2022". AARP. January 20, 2022. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
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