Pharmaceutical advertising in the USA: information or influence?

Abstract

While many parts of pharmaceutical advertisements are regulated, each advertisement also contains a promotional component in which the advertiser conveys information to the consumer. The purpose of this research is to examine the promotional portion of pharmaceutical advertisements to determine whether factual information and rational arguments are being provided to consumers to inform them of health problems, treatment options, and medical science advances. The current research compares the promotional portion of direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertisements for prescription drugs with advertisements for over-the-counter (OTC) remedies and dietary supplements using content analysis. The results indicate that DTC advertisements do not solely rely on rational appeals; instead, they are using more positive and negative emotional appeals than OTC remedies or dietary supplements. Further, DTC advertisements also feature fewer women in their advertisements, more characters under the age of 18 and primarily Caucasian models.