subject: Product Awards Presented By New Century Spine Centers In San Diego [print this page] As a chiropractor in southern San Diego, patients regularly tell us about some new gizmo for back pain. Have you ever bought something, spent your hard earned money, had great expectations, and then it turned out to be a flop? Everyone has. Well, here is how some are getting a little revenge. A global consumer group, Consumers International has recently announced its bad product awards for the 2007 year and years thereafter. The top prize went to the U.S. subsidiary of a Japanese firm, Takeda Pharmaceuticals. They promoted a sleeping drug for children. The company ran a television advertisement in the United States using images of children, chalkboards and a school bus to sell its drug. The drug is called Rozerem.
One of the awards went to drinks giant Coca-Cola for pushing marketing into the realms of the ludicrous in the United States and South America with its Dasani bottled water which is sourced from the same reservoirs as local tap water. The "back-to-school" advertisements which complied with U.S. law, promoted the sleeping pills mentioned earlier to parents without including health warnings for children, Consumers International said. This case demonstrated the lengths to which some medical companies will go to raise sales of their products, how direct to consumer marketing can promote irrational drug use, and how weak regulations can foster irresponsible corporate behavior. Health should not take a back seat to marketing.
Kellogg's, best known for its cereals, was given a bad food award for the worldwide use of cartoon characters and marketing aimed at children despite the high levels of salt and sugar in some foods. "Kellogg's is one of a number of international food companies that make money by selling products high in fat, sugar and/or salt," Consumers International said. "Threatened with litigation in the U.S., Kellogg's has agreed to change some of their marketing practices, however, we believe they are doing too little, too late."
Last month, the U.S. toymaker apologized to China, saying the vast majority of recalls were due to design flaws and had nothing to do with where the toys were manufactured in this case. The toymaker company known as Mattel was also named over the global recall of more than nineteen million products made in China. This was because of high lead levels and small magnets. This is a classic case of avoiding accountability and shifting responsibility on a global scale," Consumers International said. No matter where the fault lies, the safety of consumers was compromised and this should be the full focus of Mattel's attention. It should not be finger pointing and not blame dodging.
Consumers International, a global federation of consumer advocate organizations, said the awards aimed to highlight the abuse of consumer trust. "These multi-billion dollar companies are global brands with a responsibility to be honest, accountable and responsible," the group's director general, Richard Lloyd said. "In highlighting their shortcomings, Consumers International and its 220 member organizations are holding corporations accountable and demanding businesses take social responsibility seriously."
The awards, which were announced at Consumers International's World Congress in Sydney, were whittled down from submissions by consumer organizations around the world. Criteria for final selection included the size of the company, the scale of sales and marketing, the impact on consumers, and the potential for change by the corporation. At New Century Spine Centers in San Diego, the chiropractors and spinal decompression specialists regularly study the latest treatment for back pain.
