Charlie Carroll was the newly appointed General Manager of Procter & Gamble's newly acquired Norwich Eaton subsidiary. He was on his first visit to Norwich Eaton's Mexican business and was talking to the businesses' Country Manager.
"Tell me about this product."
"This is the #1 selling prescription drug in Mexico!"
"What does it do?"
"Nothing."
"Excuse me????"
"It's a placebo. Where doctors in the USA say 'take two asprin and call me in the morning', doctors in Mexico prescribe this. A lot of people get better because they think they can and no one suffers and side-effects."
"Withdraw it from the market."
"Excuse me????"
"That's not the way Procter & Gamble operates."
The product was withdrawn.
As Procter & Gamble's former Vice President of Advertising, Richard Goldstein once said, "Principles only matter when they hurt."
