The boundaries of advertising medicines

The Minister of Health recently appointed a team for the regulation of advertising medicines, diet supplements and other foodstuffs as well as medical products. This is a response to the emerging demands for introducing restrictions of promoting such products. However, the problem of demarcating marketing boundaries is encountered not only in Poland.

Proponents of limiting the admissibility of advertising medicines, foodstuffs and medical products indicate a flood of such materials, which, through selective transmission, may be harmful to patients. Similarly, there are advertisements which show certain life situations as an anomaly requiring treatment. The intensity of this kind of content can lead to the medicalization of normal life situations and minor illnesses. After seeing an ad, a patient may seek the simplest solution and apply a product that to his subjective belief will remove any problems. A market where the issue is particularly prominent is the US market. The experience of the US and their approach are noteworthy, because they put pressure on elements that tend to be pushed aside in Poland.