Worst idea ever: Pharmacy hands out candy to children in pill bottles...

[Gravitycollapse]

http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/national/north-carolina-pharmacy-hands-out-pill-bottles-of-candy-at-july-4-parade

FAITH, NC - A North Carolina pharmacy has one family outraged after they handed out pill bottles filled with candy during a Fourth of July parade, according to WBTV .

Donald Hobart of Rowan County told WBTV that the Price Pharmacy in Granite Quarry threw the pill bottles, filled with Skittles, at his grandkids and friends’ kids at the parade in Faith on Thursday.

Wife Heather Hobart told WBTV of her concern that children will see a pill bottle in the future and assume there is candy inside.

The pharmacy owner reportedly said he only threw loose candy to children and specifically handed the pill bottles to adults as a form of advertisement. He told WBTV that this was not his intent and even made the bottles a different color to prevent confusion.

[leftstreet]

1. Why do they throw candy at kids during parades?

There's something creepy about it

Hell, why not money and coins?

[madaboutharry]

3. I've seen that done at several Bar Mitzvahs.

[HiPointDem]

15. what's creepy about it?

[leftstreet]

22. I don't know

Can't put my finger on it



Maybe I'm just being curmudgeon-y?

[HiPointDem]

24. didn't you have parades where the people on the floats threw candy when you were a kid?

[leftstreet]

26. I don't think so

But I wasn't a little kid in the US

It's not important, I've just noticed it a couple times - the candy throwing, the mad scrabble as kids run and grab for it. Kinda street-urchins, alms-for-the-poor thing. Remember seeing newspaper parade shots in some depressed urban area that couldn't adequately employ or house people, but could have a big ass parade, thinking Jesus in this economy they oughta throw money!

[HiPointDem]

27. ah, i see what bothers you, there is that. but as a kid, it's fun.

[Honeycombe8]

19. That's different from candy in pill bottles.

The pharma is trying to get the kids used to taking pills, so they'll consume more when they become adults. A lot of lifelong habits are ingrained in childhood.

When I was a kid, I could buy candy in fake Salem cigarette packs. The candy were white sticks with red tips, and they were yummy.

Throwing candy at parades has been done for centuries. It's tradition, and it's not marketing a product (other than simply candy).

[Politicalboi]

28. I remember those

And if you were lucky, you could blow white dust off them to look like smoke. They also sold chocolate cigarettes for kids. I remember when I was a small kid on a plane, and I asked for some candy cigarettes. They gave me real ones. LOL! I wanted chocolate, and they gave me tobacco. Back in the days were kids could buy cigarettes for mom with a note.

[MerryBlooms]

30. I remember those and pink bubble gum cigars. :) n/t

[Honeycombe8]

32. Oh, yeah...I forgot about the pink bubble gum cigars. They even had that paper ring. nt

[NickB79]

35. I wouldn't say creepy, but rather unsanitary

Nothing like seeing a kid pick up, unwrap and eat a Snickers bar off the top of a pile of horse shit

[Cleita]

2. Just lining up his future customers, just like RJ Reynolds did all those

cute Joe Camel promotions to introduce future smokers to tobacco.

[Archae]

6. The US Army used to give out cigarettes in the ration packs.

Especially during WW2 and Korea.

My Dad, (in Korea,) said guys who didn't smoke like him used them like money.

My Dad "bought" an air mattress for his bunk with cigs.

[jmowreader]

10. You're comparing prescription medicine to cigarettes?

[Cleita]

12. I have seen a lot of prescription drug abuse in my lifetime.

I've worked with people who went to five different doctors to get the same prescription so they could feed their addiction. I don't think the pharma companies care much.$$$$

[malokvale77]

14. Why not...

Cigarette companies purposely made they're products to deliver a specific dose.
Let me know the next time a pharmaceutical company actually cures something, rather then cover a symptom.

[Honeycombe8]

20. I used to buy candy cigarettes in Salem packages, when I was a kid.

They were white sticks that looked like cigarettes, with red tips, and I can still remember how yummy they tasted. They had a marvelous texture to them. You'd put one in your mouth, let it hang out like a cigarette, and the part in your mouth would gradually dissolve.

So...did I grow up to be a smoker? Yes. Do I still have a nostalgic feeling for those candy ciggies? Yes.

If you want a habit formed for life, start it in childhood. Selling pills is what pharma is all about.

[Iggo]

23. Not a stretch at all.

[0rganism]

4. back in the 70s we used to get candy cigarettes as Halloween candy

they were pretty popular as trading items, but they tasted like crap, i think it was mostly novelty value. a pack of candy "Kools" would get you a mid-sized Snickers, IIRC.

[Archae]

7. They tasted like chalk, right?

That's how I remember them from the 60's and 70's.

[0rganism]

8. dry squishy minty chalk

i guess their theory went something like this: if you like minty chalk as a child, you're a possible menthol smoker.

[Archae]

9. Yup, those and the pink bubble gum candy cigs.

The bubble gum ones were wrapped in paper, and if you blew in the "filter" area, "smoke" would come out the other end.
Looked cool, at least for those times.

(Remember all the TV and movie stars who smoked like chimneys?)

[Liberal_in_LA]

34. i loved them

[Nay]

13. For a Christmas gift in the 60's, I got a play doctor's medical bag that contained a pill bottle

filled with red hots. It was cool.

[HiPointDem]

16. i remember those. first thing we did was eat the candy.

[Nay]

17. Sure! I doled a few out to my 'sick' brother, then ate the rest myself!

[HiPointDem]

25. :)

[Honeycombe8]

21. I loved them. I'd let a ciggie hang out of my mouth, like a real one, while it gradually dissolved

in my mouth. I'd pretend to puff it. I loved the way they tasted (I like sugary candy....not chocolate).

They were sort of like the consistency and texture of those soft round peppermit balls that melt in your mouth. Mmmmmm. They were yummy.

And yes...I became a smoker. (I've since quit)

[liberal_at_heart]

31. I also remember bubble gum in the shape of chewing tobacco.

[burnodo]

5. it was probably a suggestion from the Pharma rep

"Hey! Lets get those kids interested in our drugs!"

[sad-cafe]

11. when I was in Elementary school on our birthday, we would get carried to the office by our friends

the principal would "spank" us for our birthday swats then give us M&M's in old pill bottles

It was very fun and no one ever got upset

[Bjorn Against]

18. Definitely not smart, but there is lots of tough competition for the worst idea ever

[malaise]

29. Not if the plan is to hook them on pills

early

[Douglas Carpenter]

33. reminds me of those old candy cigarettes they had back in the early 60's -children could dream of

day when they were grown up enough to smoke the real thing. Now children can look forward to the day when they can have their own real prescriptions.