Gavin, 13 August 03
The BBC are reporting that the Mr Men series of books is being used to promote drug use.
It’s nothing quite as bad as little Miss Junkie or Mr Stoner, as so far it is the appropriate use of anti-histamine medication for hayfever that is being promoted. Yet questions persist as the series, aimed at young children, names sponsor Glaxo Smith Kline’s product and forms part of a marketting strategy which strays close to breaking the law.
While getting effective information to patients can be difficult – the Medicines Act prohibits the promotion of medicines to children. The advice issued advising parents ’to remove the pages referring to the GSK products’ before giving the books to children can only be described as particularly disingenuous.
