One drug company hopes to shock its sales force into more ethical behavior. Abbott Laboratories has developed an interactive game, Rocked or Shocked, to quiz sales and marketing staff on the drugmaker's code of conduct.
Give the wrong answer to questions like "When is it appropriate to accept baseball tickets from clients?" and the player automatically delivers a high-voltage jolt to avatar Joe Salesguy, who sizzles and collapses into a charred lump. Choose correctly and he perks up, smiles and straightens his tie.
The game is one of several new "compliance programs" big pharma has come up with in response to accusations of overly aggressive marketing practices including the explicit promotion of off-label use of medications. Abbott plans to have all employees playing Rocked or Shocked this year.
Any resemblance to Stanley Milgram's infamous experiment -- in which subjects willingly delivered what they believed to be painful electrical shocks to totally innocent actors -- is purely coincidental, says an Abbott spokeswoman. But, she adds, many players intentionally get answers wrong so they can watch Joe fry.
