Television advertising of pharmacy medicines in the United Kingdom

In the UK pharmacy is often promoted as the first port of call for minor ailments and the pharmacist's armamentarium of products is increasing as further products are reclassified from prescription only control. Non-prescription medicines in the UK can be advertised directly to the public but the advertisements must comply with the law. Some medicines, namely pharmacy can only be sold from pharmacies by, or under, the supervision of a pharmacist. This report describes the major findings of a postal survey of community pharmacists on the subject of advertising of pharmacy medicines and put them into context by outlining the legal and quasi-legal requirements. Further other studies concerning the advertising of non-prescription medicines are discussed in the context of requests for, and sales of, medicines available without a prescription.