Sleeping pills for schoolkids? Say it ain’t so. But the U.S. subsidiary of a Japanese firm really did market the drug, Rozerem, to American kids under U.S. direct-to-consumer advertising laws. And it gets the top award for the world’s worst products, according to Consumers International.
The commercial reportedly featured images of blackboards and school buses and a voice over saying, “Rozerem would like to remind you that it’s back to school season. Ask your doctor today if Rozerem is right for you.â€
Got that, kids?
“This case demonstrates the lengths to which some drug companies will go to increase sales of their products, how direct to consumer advertising can promote irrational drug use, and how weak regulation can foster irresponsible corporate behaviour,†the group said in a statement.
Among the other “winnersâ€: Toymaker Mattel for its massive recall of millions of toys made in China with lead-based paint and subsequent “stonewalling†on accountability; and Kellogg’s, for marketing high-salt and sugary breakfast cereals to kids worldwide.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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32 Comments
Well, it looks like the American business community is right on track, considering nothing, not it’s reputation or it’s customers or even simple decency, only next quarter’s bottom line. Quarter after next, a lot of CEO’s are going to need those golden parachutes and get out of jail free cards, and a lot of employees and retirees are going to be following the same path Enron’s did.
Sleeping pills? Poooh nuggets!
All they needed to do is listen to my old history teacher and they would have been asleep in sixty seconds!
I am of the opinion that advertising of ALL prescription drugs should be banned as it is in most other western countries including Canada. One of the reasons the drugs cost so damn much is that they spend so much on TV ads. You cannot turn on TV for longer than 10 minutes and not see a half dozen ads for prescription drugs. As for mild sedatives for kids to sleep, if a child is suffering from not being able to sleep, a small mix of Jack Daniels and Pepsi will usually do the trick. And, if he has the opposite trouble of getting up, a cup of hot black coffee works wonders. You don’t need to run to the doctor and get a prescription for every little thing in life.
“”"Sleeping pills? Poooh nuggets!
All they needed to do is listen to my old history teacher and they would have been asleep in sixty seconds!”"”
I hear that alot of History teachers. I guess I was lucky. My History teacher at East High was anything but boring. His lectures brought history to life and he challenged the students in his class. But you better have read you assignment because he used the “stand and deliver” method of teaching (aka the Socratic method)
Jack Daniels? Are you out of your mind?
Listen, as a lifelong insomniac, it would probably have done me some good to get my sleep schedule better as a child. Insomnia has been a part of my family forever. My great-grandmother, grandmother, mother and I…and now my daughter too. It seems to only hit the women.
I could handle losing sleep when I was younger, although, it probably had a lot to do with how I hated school among other things.
How about we let parents decide what is best for their kids?
Take my son who has autism. Auties are well known and documented poor sleepers. I began him on melatonin at the age of 3- something I learned from my support group from so many other parents who had the same problem….2 hours of sleep- not a good thing!
It was that or clonidine- another one doctors regularly prescribe for kids like mine. I’ve had excellent results with it.
I think the ads are a good thing- they help inform the public about things they may not know otherwise. Like RLS- how I’ve heard so many complain that RLS is one of those made up things and it’s not. However, what DOES bother me is the drug reps pushing docs to use their products over something cheaper and older that might work just as well.
For instance, when my grandmother had RLS, her doc automatically prescribed Mirapex…and when I had it, my doctor told me to take Iron- RLS can be a symptom of Iron Deficiency Anemia and I was anemic…she saved me a ton of money. There is also a much older generic drug that works just as well.
I’m waiting on a Fibromyalgia drug to come out. One that works.OH sleep is also a problem for people with Fibromyalgia. I hurt about 50x’s more when I’m not sleeping well.
I think drug advertising should be banned, too. Drug companies spend billions on it, diving up the cost of drugs to the point most people can’t afford them unless they have their meds subsidized by the government or private insurers. We HAVE to start taking steps to get the cost of health care down so more Americans can have access to it. Somehow we need to start reigning in all the greed that now fuels our out of control healthcare system.
Giving kids sleeping pills? You’ve got to be kidding! Nothing like telling kids to “say NO to drugs”, but then turning around and giving them drugs for every little discomfort or complaint. Sad.
Wichita Eagle??
Hey gmc70 . . .
still haven’t figured it out, have you . . . idiot.
No, it’s not me. It’s some moron who wants to be me. Now I can understand why someone would want to be me, of course, me being me, and all . . .
P_mom, I use melatonin because it’s a natural sleep aid. A few days of it, and my sleep is regulated again. I even suggest it to friends who are having problems sleeping. I’ve never given it to children, but I know a couple of them who could use it. :)
Did anyone see the announcement about Aqua Dots? Those cute little dots that stick together to make forms contain the date rape drug.
Who’s trying to kill our children? China? Or our own corporations who have sold out to Chinda? Or our government that doesn’t seem to care if there’s oversight…until a few kids die and people start asking questions.
Pitiful.
Drug companies spend much, much more in marketing than R& D, and the fact that they get tax concessions WORLDWIDE more than helps offset their direct costs. It makes me laugh when I see a huge advertising push for some toe nail discoloration pill as the reason for a doctor’s visit. These guys are creating diseases to move merchcandise! Remember the snake oil salesmen and travelling medicine men? We have them still, but with a helluva bigger budget with which to con us.
It’s called a freedom to be greedy ———–
ken -
I actually agree with you. Prescription medications should not be marketed to the general public. Period. Wanna market to the medical profession, fine. But not to the general public.
Lets not forget pet food. For some reason we import shit(like wheat) we have in abundance, so we can get more rat poison/plastic chemicals for our pets?
Here’s a thought to consider. This Christmas season if a product says made in China leave it to gather dust on the shelf.
As for drug commercials the side effects often sound worse than the original disease, then what more drugs to manage the new side effects. and side effects like Death heart failure, your better not taking the drugs. One drug dont remember which has increased gambling as a side effect? How does that work and gambling’s a disease now?
Ahhhhh America, the great land of capitalism.
Ain’t it great?
What, you want it both ways, capitalism and controlled costs?
pish posh I say
Why is it wrong to be proactive in your own care?
Tell me, when was the last time your doctor or pharmacist handed you a script and said “this may cause dry mouth, diarrhea, and etc”. Call me if you get chest pain, and don’t take this with sudafed”.
I am not an advocate for keeping patients in the dark on their health needs or concerns. Many elderly people don’t even know that some things they do aren’t normal or IS normal.
And yes, I will keep giving my child sleeping medication- because YOU DON”T LIVE WITH IT.
Drugs should not be marketed to patients. They probably shouldn’t be marketed to physicians. A few years back, one of the drug companies marketed a sleeping pill by giving doctors who wrote so many prescriptions in a particular time period a free trip to the Bahamas. Most of the doctors in town went to the Bahamas that winter, and the drug turned out to have some horrible side effects and ended up being pulled from the market.Now I’ll agree that there are far too many drugs coming out for a physician to keep up on them all (have you actually seen a PDR?), but when your only source of information is the company rep, you’re in trouble. A better system has to be devised, if the drug companies will allow it!
Most people end up taking more drugs than they need anyways. partly because DR’s lazy, easier to give out pill than actually cure the problem. DR’s get kickback from companies to Push drugs on people. and We are a hypocondraic country running to the hospital for stuff our grandparents solved themselves.
Ask your doctor if Jack Daniels is right for you.
Everything made in China
Jed, that’s exactly why patients should be informed advocates for their own health choices. A doctor could not possibly keep up with a PDR.
If it’s something that is concerning YOU, you have the right to know.
P-Mom,Certainly the patient should stay informed. What I’m saying is that drug company advertising is the last place you should look for reliable information. All they’re interested in is selling more pills.
Kev: You’re right, Canada does not permit prescription drug ads, and does bargain with drug companies to keep costs down. On the average the costs for prescription drugs is about 35% higher here than say, Italy or the UK. The size of population has to do with clout, and they have more people than us. To those who justify the cost of drugs in the US because so much money is devoted to research and the rest of the world is living off the backs of the American consumer, I think you might find that research, and related costs is on-going and absorbed all over the world. There was a groundswell to have US ’scripts filled in Canada, which had to be stopped because of fake pharmacies on line and the plain bald fact that we could not possibly fill even 10% of US needs. 10% of your needs is 100% of ours! That would swamp our inventories and leave litte for domestic needs, so it was made illegal to fill a ’script without seeing a Canadian doctor, which is expensive if you’re not covered by the Provincial Health Insurance Scheme. Never mind the travel costs……
In Japan it’s illegal for drug companies to give perks to doctors or to advertise meds.In countries with universal health care, drug companies have to bid against each other for business…that’s what we need..good old fashioned capitalism so drug companies will have to compete with each other resulting in lower prices for the consumer. Right now big corporations with politicians in the pockets of their lobbyists have the American consumer by the throat.
A great business to start right now would be a store with toys made exclusively in America with only American materials. I think it would be very successful…even if people have to pay more for toys, at least they’d be sure the toys were safe.
I completely agree. Not just a manufacturer, but an entire store devoted only to products made in the USA. You know, like WALMART used to do before Sam died.
Mary,I think the Chinese government is really trying to cope with the problems of capitalist greed, but it is still such a new thing there that they haven’t developed an adequate system for consumer protection yet. So far they’ve locked up a bunch of offenders and executed a few of the worst, but it will take time to get it right.
Jed
The ONLY reason the Chinese gov is doing anything is because they know they have the cheapest labor anywhere in the world and if they are to keep a hold of the monopoly they have on it, they have to clean up their act. Otherwise, the billions of dollars being sent there will just disappear as fast as a protester in Tienanmen square!
Tony,I hate to say or even think it, but that’s the prime motivator for any corporation- the bottom line!