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CONTROVERSY
WHY IS IMA ‘PIMPING’ FOR PEPSI ?
By
NEERAJ
MAHAJAN / NEW DELHI
EVERYONE KNOWS that endorsements help to sell products in the market
and influence the purchase decisions of the consumers. It is also a
known fact that companies pay exorbitant sums of money to celebrities
for endorsing their products. Everyone knows the commercial logic
behind all this and somehow does not mind it– but when the doctors
join the fray and start promoting a particular brand of product – it
amounts to unfair business advantage and unethical practice.
While till a few
years ago, product endorsements were the exclusive domain for models,
fashion personalities and film stars, then came the TV stars and
sports personalities. Now the latest entrants in the fray – or so to
say are the doctors belonging to the Indian Medical Association (IMA).
According to
sources, the IMA has reportedly signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
with PepsiCo India's snack foods arm Frito-Lay to promote two of its
products: Tropicana juice and Quaker Oats.
As part of the deal
PepsiCo India will be free to use IMA’s endorsement on all its brand
promotion and advertising activities – including a mention on the
product packaging. PepsiCo in turn would return IMA’s favour by
sponsoring some of IMA’s other activities for school children. Also as
part of the deal, IMA cannot endorse any similar product, atleast till
the currency of this agreement.
This is where the
catch lies. According to sources, the moot questions here are what
extraordinary qualities did IMA find in PepsiCo products? Did IMA
conduct any specific tests before issuing the brand endorsement ?
The answer to this
is that IMA did not conduct any tests on the PepsiCo products and
simply gave its endorsement on the basis of the nutritive value
claimed by the manufacturer. One of the reasons for this is that IMA
is not a certification body and also does not have any test
laboratories. This amounts to creating a bias in favour of Pepsi,
while denying equal opportunities to other commercial products,
sources say.
All this is in
gross violation of the IMA norms, sources say. As IMA, -- a
prestigious regulatory body-- is supposed to act as a watch-dog for
upholding the highest professional standards and ethics in the medical
profession. It represents over
175,000 doctors and
has over 1700 branches in different parts of the country. Its three
main objectives are: (1) Promotion and advancement of medical and
related sciences (2) Improving public health and medical education in
India (3) Maintaining the honor and dignity of the medical profession.
According to
sources, even in the past IMA has given its stamp of approval to products
like Dettol soap and Eureka Forbes water purifiers (See Box) but there
is a big difference
as when a doctor is seen recommending you to buy a food product. “Some
people my
take it as a prescription” he said.
When contacted by
THE VERDICT, Dr S N Mishra, secretary general, Indian Medical
Association said: “We don’t see anything wrong in endorsing a
product.” Any
how, according to sources, IMA and PepsiCo is all set
to launch a health care programme
throughout educational institutions. “It is like a barter system,”
said a senior doctor who strongly opposes the move of IMA.
 
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