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Comment by siddarthd2919 | Hacker News Reader

I feel stupid for all the time we have bought Horlicks for people that are sick and hospitalized in India. I wish they called out marketing in India like they do in the US.

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> Horlicks for people that are sick and hospitalized in India

You'll be surprised how deep the rabbit hole goes. Horlicks is heavily marketed and distributed by its owner Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK). What is less well known about GSK is its kickback and corruption network throughout India and Asia. Doctors/nurses/hospital admins would get kickbacks in the form of lunches, dinners, entertainment, trips, conferences, gifts. In China, GSK was fined $500 mil for corrupting doctors. http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29274822

Even in the US, where the scale of corruption is arguably lower, GSK was fined USD$ 3 billion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_pharmaceutical...

You make a fair point, yet overlook the fact that corruption is often how business works in these countries. You might not be aware that in a country like China it is common for foreign companies to be penalized for "corruption" that is widely known to be standard fare in local industry. It is how things get done.

> yet overlook the fact that corruption is often how business works in these countries

That seems interesting. I'd be interested to know whether that's true and for which specific countries. How much of it is powerful MNCs utilizing their power to put the right politician/legislator in place, similar to how lobbying works in the US.

I'm also surprised you use the strong words "overlook" and "fact". I wonder if you're perhaps confusing hollywood portrayal of Asia/Africa/developing countries for reality. I see that mistake made often by people who have not spent significant time overseas or have chosen to live purely in an expat bubble.

> You might not be aware that in a country like China it is common for foreign companies to be penalized for "corruption" that is widely known to be standard fare in local industry.

I'm quite familiar with China. What you're saying maybe partially true but just like the USA, it's lobbying, not direct corruption. Calling it "standard fare" "corruption" would be equivalent to calling American business/lobbying industry as the same. In much the same way that you wouldn't call Boeing/McDonald Douglas/steel industry/coal industry lobbying as corruption. If I'm mistaken, could you please give a specific instance with the facts you're referring to.

It's far more systematic and normal in developing countries. In the US you wouldn't have to bribe city officials to get a factory built, for instance. I've an acquaintance who is doing just that and construction has stopped because they refused to pay off the right people. Later on, if you do something that the authorities don't like, they take you down for corruption. I don't have a hollywood view of China; I've lived there for some time.

When my dad had a heart issue in 2003, his doctor strictly told him to stay away from Horlicks (whilst saying our regular cup of coffee in the morning was fine. It's a South Indian cup, much much smaller than the American version). But every well-wishing visitor would bring a pack of horlicks, and we had some 25-30 packs lying around in the house.

Still better than one of the nurses who eventually showed up at our house with a bunch of Amway products.

Why feel stupid? Marketing of this sort is designed and implemented to catch as many people in its net as possible, no matter how smart they are otherwise. The best marketing (from their perspective) is when it reaches a point where people simply don't even consider questioning it because it's been so pervasive for so long (generations).

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