Steve Slagle: In My Opinion
View Related Article: Drug Companies Shun Promotional Products
Steve Slagle, the president and CEO of the Promotional Products Association International sounds off on the new code drug makers have adopted to ban the use of promotional products.
As an Association, we must educate our members and the industry regarding regulatory challenges related to the definition of our marketplace. It is our mission to shift thinking about our industry as a supplier of products to considering those items as an advertising medium. Often it is the focus on the word “gift” that enables legislators and regulators to scrutinize our industry.
It is this scrutiny that has driven both federal and state legislation to begin including promotional products in their requests for disclosure of payments, gifts, benefits and “transfers of value” made to healthcare professionals by manufacturers of drugs, medical devices and medical supplies.
What started in mid-2008 as voluntary guidelines developed by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA) governing its members’ interactions with healthcare professionals, has now morphed into laws and regulations that threaten to ban promotional products from being given as advertising reminders and brand identifiers. The PhRMA voluntary guidelines, also later adopted by the Advanced Medical Technology Association for its members, are serious enough, without further legislation. Hundreds of our members have been significantly impacted by lost sales, lost jobs and lost businesses as a result of the guidelines’ bans on industry products.
Elected officials are now proposing laws and regulations that require disclosure or outright prohibitions and penalties for failure to comply. Massachusetts was an early leader in toughening the guidelines, Vermont has now followed, and it seems each state wants to be tougher than the others. The bottom line for our industry is that we’re caught in the wake of consumer advocacy groups’ call for more stringent regulations of the healthcare industry, with little regard for the fact that our industry stands to lose $1 billion or more in sales as a result.
Logoed items of relatively modest value should not be perceived as gifts that unduly influence professional behavior. Promotional products are not rebates, nor are they inducements to purchase products
Promotional products are an advertising medium. They are tangible forms of advertising that keep the brand name in front of the recipient, reinforcing the advertising message with each use. When expressed in those terms, our products are no different from any other element in the marketing mix—except for the high message recall they deliver.
The medium is the most cost-effective method for smaller businesses to market their products and services. Prohibiting their use results in a hardship for these smaller businesses and limits their ability to reinforce personal relationships with their customers, clients, and prospects. It is more important than ever to provide a personal connection.
We need your help. Hundreds of our members responded to our call to action by writing or e-mailing their legislators to oppose the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, introduced in January. We need to turn our attention to the states, too, and we’re prepared to help. Our website at PPAI LAW has information on the legislation and instructions for how you can send your own letters to Congress. We’ve hired another lobbyist to focus attention on this one issue, and we’re mobilizing our members through regional associations to gain the grassroots efforts that mean more than anything a lobbyist can accomplish on his or her own.
Hearing from a constituent is a powerful incentive for our elected leaders. It gives them time to pause, consider their actions and to learn more about the consequences of the laws and regulations they propose. We ask that you take the time to visit PPAI LAW and weigh in on the important issues that, at the end of the day, may mean your businesses’ survival. It’s that important.
