Healthy Skepticism Library item: 3541

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Ferguson A.
Commercial pharmaceutical medicine and medicalization: a case study from El Salvador
1988;

Abstract:

(Limited to parts of chapter dealing with promotion.) In Asunción, El Salvador most multinational pharmaceutical firms package prescription pills, capsules and tablets so that they can be sold on an individual basis. The only information included in these cases was the name of the product and the manufacturer. National Salvadoran firms were more likely to include inserts with their products but in many instances these inserts made no effort to alert the buyer to the risks involved with the medications. The owners of the two pharmacies in town who purchased their medications from distributorships and pharmaceutical firms relied heavily on information provided by the companies’ sales representatives. However, most of these people received little training in the uses of medications. Sales personnel whose primary function is to sell products to physicians are generally better educated than the people who sell at pharmacies. The incomes for both types of sales personnel are dependent on their volume of sales. Although prescription drugs are not advertised in the mass media, large companies indirectly promote their use by suggesting that the quality and efficacy of their products are superior to those of other companies and that a feeling of well being and health can be obtained by buying their products.

Keywords:
*analysis/El Salvador/developing countries/sales representatives/direct-to-consumer advertising/DTCA/ package inserts/ pharmacies and pharmacists/EVALUATION OF PROMOTION: LABELLING AND PACKAGE INSERTS/INFLUENCE OF PROMOTION: CONSUMERS AND PATIENTS/PROMOTION AS A SOURCE OF INFORMATION: PHARMACISTS/PROMOTIONAL TECHNIQUES: DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER ADVERTISING/PROMOTIONAL TECHNIQUES: PACKAGE INSERTS