A US Operator of hospitals and clinics has decided that pharmaceutical companies can no longer give promotional items such as custom imprinted clocks, custom mouse pads and custom printed pens to the 17 SMDC Health System clinics in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Doctors have been used to getting promotional products with a custom imprint featuring drugs like Nexium, Vytorin and Lipitor for years, but the SMDS has put a stop to the practice. Giveaways have been a longstanding practice for the big pharmaceutical companies, but critics say doctors could be influenced into prescribing medicine from these drug companies without putting their patient’s interest first and foremost.
A spokesman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America said that some hospitals and clinics have banned promotional items being given away in there offices, but for the most part the items are welcomed.
The SMDC was to gain the consumers trust and confidence, knowing that their doctors have the back and are putting them first while not being influenced by gizmo’s a gadgets.
Promotional products will still be a big part of drug companies marketing and advertising plans; they will just focus on getting the freebies in the hands of the consumer – in hopes of exposing their products enough so that the consumer will ask their doctor for them by name.
Tim Somers
Bizarre Promotions, Inc.
