Healthy Skepticism Library item: 18042

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Boynton P, Shaw S, Callaghan W
How PR firms use research to sell products
BMJ 2004 Feb 28; 328:(7438):530
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/328/7438/530-a

Abstract:

In the past month we have seen some pretty astonishing research. Studies have proved that moving to the countryside, drinking wine, or discussing your relationship problems in bed can improve sexual problems. Owning a pet helps you recover more quickly from illness, testosterone causes unsafe sex, and if your eyes are brown or green they are officially the “wrong” colour. But texting is good for your mental health.

You may not have been privy to these discoveries unless, like us, you have an interest in what research appears in the lay media, or are regularly targeted by public relations companies.

While many questions have been asked about research undertaken by pharmaceutical companies, until now there has been a tendency to ignore the activities of PR companies, which have begun using “research” to sell products. They conduct a “study”-usually a “survey”-and aggressively target the press, making sure the coverage names their . . .