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Sam's Club Gives Kids Candy In Pill Bottles
Filed under: In The News, Weird But True
Sam's Club targets children with ill-advised pharmacy promotion. Image: Pam Roth/sxc.hu
If experts are worried about pharmacies handing out prescription drugs like candy, I wonder how they would feel about a pharmacy that hands out candy like prescription drugs. That is exactly what a Sam's Club pharmacy in Salisbury, Maryland was doing last week.
Sams' Club is a membership store and has a checkpoint at the entry where shoppers must show their identification before entering. But at this particular store, employees weren't just checking member cards, they were also promoting the in-store pharmacy by giving children prescription medicine bottles filled with candy.
That's right, they stuffed Tootsie Rolls and Dots into real prescription bottles with real prescription labels and handed them out to children. I think this takes the prize for sending the wrong message about prescription medication.
After complaints about the promotion, Sam's Club dropped it and issued an apology. Deeming it an "isolated incident," Sam's Club Corporate Communications Manager Susan Koehler promised it would never happen again.
It would seem that this was a case of a rogue pharmacy department trying to be clever without corporate approval. But does it really take a degree in marketing communications to recognize the sheer stupidity of this idea?
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ReaderComments (Page 4 of 4)
6-30-2009 @ 9:14PM
chris said...this is a classic stupid sams club decsion. i worked for this company for three years. i have seen some really stupid crap come out of that store. they treat there employees like crap and they dont care if they break laws. dont shop there or a t walmart i dont
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6-30-2009 @ 7:40PM
JANA said...Daisy, you're not too clever yourself. You're right up there on the intellectual scale with the idiots who conceived this dangerous idea. Or maybe you just don't care about children.
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6-30-2009 @ 7:32PM
Bill said...Death to islam---what is a moving TUCK? and what is a RETRAINING ORDER--before you add 2 cents make you have sense.
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6-30-2009 @ 7:34PM
Oprah said...If theys that stupid,,,it a way of limitin world population...they too damn many kids anyhow......
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6-30-2009 @ 9:09PM
Donna said...The Sams Club in Joplin,MO puts an additional supply of over the counter medicines in the candy area. I have called several times and complained that it will make small children think these drugs are candy, but was told that they were ordered to put them there.
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6-30-2009 @ 7:41PM
Oprah said...Why didn't they axe Dr. Phil, oh yea that white ass-hole aint no damn Dr. no how.....
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6-30-2009 @ 9:35PM
DARLEEN said...what is the world coming too? all for A DOLLAR BILL!
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6-30-2009 @ 8:40PM
jw said...Didn't anyone grow up having their parents warn them that medicene is not candy? Alot of cough drops and cough syrups taste like candy. My parents always taught me the difference.
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6-30-2009 @ 9:12PM
BECKY said...The parents actually let thier kids have these bottles of candy. I would have refused to let my child have it and instead, bought candy in proper containers and explained that what they tried to give them was wrong.And that you never take anything from a midicine bottle unless an adult you know gives it to you.
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7-01-2009 @ 7:02AM
Lisa said...If the Dots candies are supposed to be pills, are the Tootsie Rolls supposed to be suppositories?
Seriously, what a f*** up. Sheesh.
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7-01-2009 @ 6:58PM
Lori said...I hate when people write in to say how stupid something is and can't even spell it right!
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7-01-2009 @ 10:30PM
Family Matters said...Absolutely outrageous! I'd say even criminal.
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7-02-2009 @ 10:28AM
kelseypromo said...This is a promotion that has been around for years in the promotions industry. There are a few companies offering what looks like a pill bottle (brown color) and a promotional label with an advertising message on it. They can be filled with all kinds of different candy or mints.
Sams Club was doing something that 1000's of other businesses around the country have been doing for many years to promote themselves in an memorable way.
I doubt that the idea was to give them to children. Giving to children does not help the promotion. They were for adults to remind them of the pharmacy in the store. Just because it's candy does not mean it's for kids. Adults like candy also.
The slant of the article was that the promotion was for kids. I don't think that it was.
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7-02-2009 @ 7:07PM
Tiffany said...Are you serious? Maybe they expected parents to tell their children that the pills in prescription bottles are NOT candy. Or maybe they thought they could tell the difference between a tootsie roll and an antibiotic. They're children not retards.
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7-03-2009 @ 9:37PM
Pancakes said...dumbasses........thats all i can say to this
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7-20-2009 @ 3:31PM
jean grahm said...are you kidding me?? this is the most ridiculous, irresponsible act I can imagine a pharmacy would do!
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