Mr. Advertising

This you won’t believe.

A long-running series of children’s books from the UK called “Mr. Men” has run afoul of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

Each of the Mr. Men books features different characters such as Mr. Bounce, Mr. Brave, Mr. Dizzy, Mr. Nonsense, Mr. Grumble, Mr. WrongI could go on, but you get the idea.

A recent addition to the Mr. Men series is Mr. Sneeze, who looks sort of like a blue explosion on legs. In the Mr. Sneeze book, Mr. S. has hay fever, and Miss Sunshine tries to help him cope with his allergies, which ultimately get the best of him.

The story finishes up with two pages of advertising for the GlaxoSmithKline allergy products, Piriteze and Piriton.

That’s right – advertising for prescription drugs in a children’s book.

Just one little problem: Under the Medicines Act of 1994, it’s against the law to promote pharmaceuticals to children. And you would think that the Proprietary Association of Great Britain (PAGB) would be aware of that. After all, they’re responsible for reviewing and approving drug company advertising. But a PAGB spokesperson told BBC News Online, “It is not easy to give this type of information to children and it seems a very good way of doing that.”

Absolutely! Just the thing that’s been missing from our kids’ lives: drug advertising brought to them by their favorite cartoon characters.

Mr. Wrong would know better.

To Your Good Health,

Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute