PIll Pushers???

A pharmacy and a physician say they didn't intend to upset anyone when their group handed out prescription bottles filled with candy during Ripley, WVa's Fourth of July parade.

I'm sure it felt like a good promotional idea when the pharmacist ordered promotional pill bottles from an online distributor. Unfortunately, there was no personal interaction where a marketing professional could have asked:

• what message are you trying to convey
• who will be the key recipient
• what is the method of distribution

Parents were incensed. The sight of young children picking up a prescription bottle from the ground and being positively reinforced with delicious candy was too much for many parents. Irate e-mails and phone calls reverberated from the community. "It's easier to learn something than to unlearn something. Thinking this is candy in a pill bottle is not the message we want our children to have'' said one parent.

When planning a promotion, it's vitally important to think the plan through and discuss it with a marketing consultant if possible. It always helps to get a different perspective from people who handle hundreds of promotional campaigns a year. There are many ways to safely get candy into the hands of children while promoting the brand of the pharmacy or physician. The negative publicity from this type of incident can take years to overcome.