Give me a D, give me an R, give me a U , give me a G ...

[T_i_B]

Sadly, I didn't think that this headline was quite right for LBN so I'm posting this here.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1653111,00.html

US drug manufacturers facing increasingly tough competition to market their wares to doctors have found a new, all-American weapon: cheerleaders.

So many young college graduates have traded their pom-poms for a saleswoman's briefcase that a company has been set up in Memphis, Tennessee, to help corporations talent-scout cheerleaders around the country.

Gregory Webb, the founder and president of Spirited Sales Leaders, says he is aware of several hundred former cheerleaders who have been hired by pharmaceutical companies as saleswomen. He said the pharmaceutical industry had hired more cheerleaders than other industries because it pays higher salaries.

He rejected suggestions that drug corporations were simply seeking to exploit cheerleaders' wholesome good looks in the hope of luring mostly male doctors into prescribing their products. "Today's cheerleader is not a 1950s cheerleader. These are true campus leaders," Mr Webb said. "They've stood in front of tens of thousands of people in the arena, but they've also stood up in front of college presidents."