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Special Articles

PROPRIETARY MEDICINES

STANDARDS IN ADVERTISING

IN 1945 the Advertising Association set up a com-mittee to prepare a unified code of standards in the

advertising of medicines and treatments ; and the code,now published, has the support of the NewspaperProprietors Association, the Newspaper Society, thePeriodical Trade Press and Weekly Newspaper Pro-

prietors Association, the Advertising Association, the

Incorporated Society of British Advertisers, the Instituteof Incorporated Practitioners in Advertising, and theProprietary Association of Great Britain.There are already statutory restrictions under the

Venereal Diseases Act, 1917, the Cancer Act, 1939,and the Pharmacy and Medicines Act, 1941. TheseActs forbid advertisements relating to venereal diseases,cancer, Bright’s disease, cataract, diabetes, epilepsy,fits, glaucoma, locomotor ataxy, paralysis, tuberculosis,and the procurement of abortion.The provisions of the code, which are summarised

below, do not apply to an advertisement published bya Government Ministry or department or by a local

authority, nor to an advertisement addressed to registeredmedical or dental practitioners, registered pharmacists,or registered nurses.

GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS

Cure.-No advertisement should contain a claim tocure any ailment or symptoms, nor should an advertise-ment contain a word or expression used so as to meanin the positive sense the extirpation of any ailment.

Illnesses requiring medical attention.-No advertise-ment should contain any matter which can be regardedas an offer of a medicine, product, or advice relating tothe treatment or relief of serious diseases which shouldrightly receive the attention of a registered medicalpractitioner.Misleading or exaggerated claims.—No advertisement

should contain any matter which directly or by implica-tion misleads as to the composition, character, or actionof the medicine or treatment advertised or as to its

suitability for the purpose for which it is recommended.. Appeals to fear.-No advertisement should be calculatedto induce fear in the reader that he is suffering, or maywithout treatment suffer or suffer more severely, froman ailment. ’

Competitions.-No advertisement should contain anyprize competition or similar scheme. Such advertise-ments may constitute an offence under section 26 of theBetting and Lotteries Act, 1934.Diagnosis or treatment by correspondence.—No advertise-

ment should offer to diagnose by correspondence diseasesor symptoms, or request a statement of symptomswith a view to advising on or providing for treatmentby correspondence. Nor should any advertisement offertreatment by correspondence. ,

Disparaging references.-No advertisement shoulddirectly or by implication disparage the products,medicines, or treatments of another advertiser or

manufacturer, or of registered medical practitioners.Money-back offers.-No advertisement should offer to

refund money paid.College, clinic, institute, laboratory.-No advertise-

ment should contain these or similar terms unless anestablishment corresponding with the description useddoes in fact exist.

Doctor, hospitals, &c.-No advertisement should containany reference to doctors or hospitals, whether Britishor foreign, unless such reference can be substantiated byindependent evidence and can properly be used in themanner proposed. No advertisement should containin the name of a product the term " doctor " or " Dr."unless the product was so named before Jan. 1, 1944.Products offered particularly to women.—No advertise..-

ment of products, medicihes, or treatments for disordersor irregularities peculiar to women should contain thefollowing or similar expressions, which may imply

effectiveness in inducing miscarriage : " female pills,’’" not to be used in cases of pregnancy," " the strongerthe remedy the more effective it is," " never known tofail."

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Illust,rations.-(a) No advertisement should containany illustration if the reasonable inference to be drawntherefrom comes within any of the restrictions of thiscode ; and (b) illustrations in advertisements should bein good taste and should not be distorted or exaggeratedto convey false impressions.

Magic, magical, miracle, miraculous.—No advertise-ment should contain these terms.

Natural remedies.—No advertisement should claim orsuggest, contrary to fact, that the article advertised isin the form in which it occurs in-nature or that its valuelies in its being a

" natural " product.Special claims for drugs and chemicals.—No advertise-

ment of drugs or chemicals should contain any referencewhich is calculated to lead the public to assume that thearticle or treatment advertised has some special propertyor quality which is in fact unknown or unrecognised.

Sexual weakness.-No advertisement should claim thatthe product, medicine, or treatment advertised willpromote sexual virility or be effective in treating sexualweakness, or habits associated with sexual excess or

indulgence, or any ailment associated with those habits.Premature ageing, impaired vitality, loss of virility.—

These and similar expressions may be understood tomean sexual weakness and the recommendations underthat heading may apply.

Tonic.-The use of this expression in advertisementsshould not imply that the product or medicine can beused in the treatment of sexual weakness.

Testimonials.-No statement or implication should beallowed to appear in a testimonial which would not be,permitted in the text of the advertisement. In. any caseno advertisement should contain a testimonial other thanone limited to the actual views of the writer, nor anytestimonial given by a doctor other than a registeredBritish medical practitioner unless it is obvious in theadvertisement that the writer is not a British medicalpractitioner.

FORBIDDEN SUBJECTS

No advertisement should contain any matter, whichcan be regarded as an offer of a medicine, treatment, orproduct in relation to any of the following :

Alopecia, amenorrheea, diseased ankles, arteriosclerosis,artery troiables, arthritis, baldness, barber’s rash, blooddisease, high or low blood-pressure, convulsions, dermatitis(all forms), disseminated sclerosis, ears and eyes (any organicdefect), fungus infections, gallstones, goitre, heart symptcms,impetigo, indigestion (chronic or persistent), insomnia (chronicor persistent), itch, kidney diseases, lazy eye, leg troubles,bad or painful legs, lupus, menopausal ailments, obesity, *osteo-arthritis, prolapse, purpura, pyorrhoea, rheumatism

(chronic or persistent), rheumatoid arthritis, ringworm,scabies, scaly eruptions, sclerosis, skin diseases, slimming,* * ,squint, sycosis, ulcers (gastric or duodenal), varicose veins.

SOME SOCIAL FILMS

THE Central Office of Information has a plan to makelegislation comprehensible by means of the colour cartoon.Two new films of a series-the first dealing with town-planning, the second with the National Health Service-have been completed, and as far as technical achievementgoes they are decidedly successful. They will be shownin most of the ordinary cinema programmes throughoutGreat Britain. ’

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The central character is Charley, who is both thevictim of our failure to provide good social conditionsand the- advocate of the reforms introduced by theActs. This is the weakness of the films, for it entailspresenting all the proposed changes in rosy light,and overlooking any possible hitches. The results areuncommonly like propaganda based on the theory thateverything is for the best in the best of all possibleStates. Something must be allowed for the fact thatone cannot tell everything in a ten-minute cartoon ;but a word of caution to the effect that towns and

* The restriction does not apply to offers of physical exercisecourses or to articles used for the purpose of physical exercise.