A nurse wants to endorse a product. Is it ethical?

[Anxious Patient]

I am a registered nurse three days a week at a hospital and a bartender one day a week at a country club. I am about to launch an all-natural, premium margarita mix and want to include on the label that it is endorsed by a nurse-me. Ethical? R.D., TUCSON

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/magazine/04wwln-ethicist-t.html?_r=1

[hypocaffeinemia, BSN, RN]

I dont understand how a nurse endorsing an ETOH product is relevent. I dont see any ethical situation. If this nurse wants to make some money with a good mix, then good for her. I personally dont drink hardly ever, much less margaritas. The same could be said about this recent election how America's nurses supported one candidate over another, I personally did not, so that could be ethical as well. I guess I dont see how being a nurse is going to help sell a product that is not even in the healthcare mix.

What you are seeing is that the nurse in question is trying to market an "all-natural" (whatever that even means, nothing supernatural about it?) mix and by seeking to endorse it as a nurse s/he is implicitly attempting to deceive prospective customers into thinking the mix has health benefits. That's the first unethical thing.

The second unethical thing is endorsing your own product. Professional endorsements should be free of conflicts of interest. The nurse stands to gain considerably from the product's success.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

no matter how you wrap it, alcohol is a toxin. Heck, beer would be a health food drink with all the whole grains in it, except for the toxin part of course.

[Rascal1]

How can a margarita mix be "all natural" ? Misleading marketing ethical ?

[hypocaffeinemia, BSN, RN]

no matter how you wrap it, alcohol is a toxin. Heck, beer would be a health food drink with all the whole grains in it, except for the toxin part of course.

It's an organic substance that causes physiologic responses. Just like nearly everything you put into your mouth, unless you have pica.

Toxin has a very specific definition in medicine, and alcohol doesn't meet the definition.

[Atheos]

That neurotoxic drug is apparently healthy as red wine. I'm not trying to say that margaritas are healthy but if she puts a healthy ingredient in it, I suppose she can claim some sort of nutrition.:uhoh21:

That's like saying a Screwdriver (Vodka/ORange Juice) is healthy because it has 100% of your daily Vitamin C.

Listen, these types of deceptive advertising are done all the time. If people are stupid enough to believe it, then go for it and make that money.

This is what would make it unethical.