Hello Everyone
We decided to have a go at advertising in the PJ - to get the word round to reach pharmacists who may not know about the site. Would you think this would be a problem? Well apparently, the pharmacy-forum.co.uk is not allowed to advertise as it would be “in direct competition with features we are introducing on our soon to be relaunched site”. That is the PJ on-line site.
This seems unfair, and I am not very happy about it.
As the same thing has happened to the Administrator of Locum Voice we have written a joint epistle to the PJ letters as follows:
"We are the administrators of two pharmacy web forums, www.pharmacy-forum.co.uk and www.locumvoice.co.uk :: Index. These forums are run by volunteers and exist for peer support, problem-solving and information dissemination. Both have been used recently to help pharmacists with their replies to the Responsible Pharmacist consultation.
The one publication which all pharmacists receive is the Pharmaceutical Journal, so when it came to deciding to advertise to let pharmacists know of these sites, the PJ was the natural choice. It was with great surprise that adverts were refused as they “will be in direct competition with features we are introducing on our soon to be relaunched site”.
Although it is understood that there is an editorial right to refuse advertising, of offensive material for example, it had not been realised up to now that information is being restricted on competition grounds.
In the current climate of jockeying for position in the emergence of a new professional body, will this type of restriction of competition become more prevalent?
We call for the Pharmaceutical Journal to review its procedures immediately, not just because we want to advertise but because we want to ensure that pharmacists have a wide choice and a full knowledge of all the sources of information and support available."
This is but the first step in the matter, and all comments and suggestions are very welcome. It will be interesting to see if it gets published.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
We decided to have a go at advertising in the PJ - to get the word round to reach pharmacists who may not know about the site. Would you think this would be a problem? Well apparently, the pharmacy-forum.co.uk is not allowed to advertise as it would be “in direct competition with features we are introducing on our soon to be relaunched site”. That is the PJ on-line site.
This seems unfair, and I am not very happy about it.
As the same thing has happened to the Administrator of Locum Voice we have written a joint epistle to the PJ letters as follows:
"We are the administrators of two pharmacy web forums, www.pharmacy-forum.co.uk and www.locumvoice.co.uk :: Index. These forums are run by volunteers and exist for peer support, problem-solving and information dissemination. Both have been used recently to help pharmacists with their replies to the Responsible Pharmacist consultation.
The one publication which all pharmacists receive is the Pharmaceutical Journal, so when it came to deciding to advertise to let pharmacists know of these sites, the PJ was the natural choice. It was with great surprise that adverts were refused as they “will be in direct competition with features we are introducing on our soon to be relaunched site”.
Although it is understood that there is an editorial right to refuse advertising, of offensive material for example, it had not been realised up to now that information is being restricted on competition grounds.
In the current climate of jockeying for position in the emergence of a new professional body, will this type of restriction of competition become more prevalent?
We call for the Pharmaceutical Journal to review its procedures immediately, not just because we want to advertise but because we want to ensure that pharmacists have a wide choice and a full knowledge of all the sources of information and support available."
This is but the first step in the matter, and all comments and suggestions are very welcome. It will be interesting to see if it gets published.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
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