Food, flattery, and friendship

doi:10.1136/bmj.326.7400.0-g

BMJ 2003;326 (31 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.326.7400.0-g

Editor's choice

Food, flattery, and friendship

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

This week's cover has already caused some consternation in the BMJ's offices. One or two people had heard that it depictedpigs and reptiles. Yet the verbal description "pigs and reptiles"sounds much harsher than the rather loveable creatures drawnby Malcolm Willett. And that illustrates one of the underlyingmessages of this week's theme issue on the relationship betweendoctors and the drug industry. This relationship isn't a Manicheanbattle between good and evil but the entwinement of individualsfrom different backgrounds and value sets who get to know, and often to like, each other and therefore want, as humans do,to reciprocate friendships and favours. "Food, flattery, andfriendship are all powerful tools of persuasion," quotes RayMoynihan in his two part article on entanglement.

Moynihan's articles (pp 1189, 1193) set the scene for thistheme issue. His first explores the sorts of relationships . . . [Full text of this article]

Jane Smith, deputy editor

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Rapid Responses:

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