Prilosec OTC sweepstakes

I was watching The Colbert Report yesterday and saw a commercial for Prilosec OTC, a brand of non-prescription heartburn relief medication. Apparently there's a football-themed sweepstakes to help promote their product where people may enter through promotional codes and UPCs.

What the hell? Would any consumer select their medication because of a sweepstakes offer rather than considering the quality and effectiveness of it and its competition?

I can understand when there is a prize in a box of cereal or an M&M sweepstakes because those are (1) "luxury" or non-essential items (arguably Prilosec only treats heartburn so it's sort of a luxury item) and (2) aimed largely at kids. It could be a reasonable judgment to choose a certain brand of cereal over another because there is a hotwheels car inside, or to choose a brand of candy or soda because you have a chance of winning something. However, in the case of medicine and pharmaceuticals this is simply ridiculous.

What's next? One in ten bottles of Valtrex will win you a free hat? That's shameless marketing.

You don't market health products in the same way you market a skateboard or a knife set. You provide the best product you can and if other products do it just as well at a lower price, too bad--it's better for public health that way. Don't draw up an aggressive marketing campaign like with Axe Bodysprays or Monster Cable Products, Inc. in an attempt to scrounge up profit, that's awful. It doesn't help make products better or help improve society, it exploits capitalism.