Public relations is a great resource when a company wants to express to their audience how they are positively impacting the environment and public. PR will be able to communicate with a company's audience/consumers about the company's good-doings, and they are able to listen to the public's reaction. Harold Burson gave a speech at 18th IPRA World Conference about public relations responsibility to its corporation, and spoke how corporate conscious is the job description for public relations.
Merck & Co. is a one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, with its headquarters located in New Jersey. The company also publishes a series of medical reference books, including the world's best-selling medical textbook, Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy. They were also recently ranked #8 on CR's 100 Best Corporate Citizens of 2013.
Being a pharmaceutical company, Merck & Co. should be socially responsible. They work with many different compounds and chemicals that harm the environment, and should take opportunity of purchasing machines that reduce the pollution caused by these chemicals. They may also help provide developing countries with crucial, life-saving medicines. In the article, The Pharmaceutical Industry and Corporate Social Responsibility, Dr. Harvey discusses that the primary social responsibility of the pharmaceutical industry is discover and develop new drugs and vaccines. However, Merck & Co. does a poor job at being socially responsible.
Although Merck & Co. has made many donations, such as teaming up with UNICEF and donating its drug Mectizan, the company has also experienced poor publicity from being held responsible for 1/3 of the VOC emission pollution in the San Diego area. As a result, the company had to pay out $1.8 million, and install new machines that reduce emission pollution. More recently, the company had failed at their social responsibility, by failing to notify patients of serious side effects from taking the drug Fosamax. The company's internal emails were leaked that had not only shown evidence that they were hiding this information, but also poked fun at patients who would complained about side effects they were having. The case is currently undergoing. Now would be the best time for the company to start working on some publicity that shows them in a more positive light. Being ranked #8 on the Corporate Citizen's list may start to shed some positive light on the company, and show that they are making more of effort to be socially responsible.
I had heard a lot about their recent problems with the side effects of certain drugs and I couldn't agree more. This is definitely the time that they should be focusing on how to turn their publicity into positive publicity. One big way to do this is to focus on their social responsibility. The company should highlight on some of the newer greener technologies that they have supported within creating medicines that have been lifesaving to many individuals. Many companies have been able to come back from negative attention - including Tylenol and Disney. Merek can do this as well, especially thorough focusing on their corporate social responsibility.
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I have never heard of Merck & Co. before, but it sounds like they are building somewhat of publicity if they are ranked #8 on the Corporate Citizen's list. I think the best thing for them to do would be to find ways to really make a positive impact on the environment and make it know when they do so. I would think that a big company like this would do everything they can to find alternatives for medications that don't affect the environment. But you are definitely right about saying that right now would be the best time to start positive publicity.
ReplyDeleteAlong with Justine, I had not heard of Merick & Co. before this, but I feel as if I had, it would have been negative. I am a little disappointed with the lack of social responsibility they have. The fact that they were e-mailing regarding patients and their serious medical issues is beyond unethical and will forever follow them with a negative light.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of Merick & Co. but clearly they are on something here! It would be nice to see a bigger presence of them in sub-saharan Africa as there will be a high need for that extra help there! I like how they are looking towards affordable drug options.
ReplyDeleteMost people when they think about big pharmaceutical companies all they think about that all they care about is money or about their chemical waste. The fact that Merick & Co isn't taking the time to find ways of safely getting rid of this chemical waste shows that this idea we have of pharmaceutical companies can be true. I hope they can figure out a way to turn their image around and find a safe way to rid their chemical waste.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting article Abbey! I love learning about Pharmaceutical companies, and what they stand for. In the future, I am thinking about working in the medical sales field. So, this type of stuff interests me a lot. Great Job!
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