In recent years, many local laboratories have strengthened their compliance policies, in line with what has been happening in developed countries for some time. A necessary and positive step. But in this process, a dangerous misconception has taken hold: the belief that every promotional item is an undue incentive.

And so, thermoses, mugs, notebooks, pens, or even an umbrella are prohibited… As if a doctor could exchange a prescription for an object with a logo. This logic, rather than upholding ethics, ends up undervaluing the professional.

Pharmaceutical merchandising, when designed with purpose, doesn’t persuade: it accompanies and clarifies. It improves communication with healthcare professionals. An anatomical model helps to explain, a notebook to record information, an umbrella to arrive dry for a home visit. These are tools that facilitate the task, not dictate it.

Revaluing merchandising is not a step backward: it is restoring humanity and coherence to communication in healthcare. And when done with respect, transparency, and utility, good merchandising doesn’t buy favors, it honors them.

In times when medical communication seeks a balance between science and humanity, these simple objects continue to remind us that ethics lies not in what is given, but in how and why it is given.