Non-Prescription Drug Advertising

| A consumer would be interested in DFS, as they want them to produce high-quality, value-for-money products and the after-sales service in order to make any future sales. As they are the purchaser of the good, the business is essentially interested in the needs of the consumer. They can have a huge impact on the business as if they receive a poor quality product it would lead to any future sales being lost. This is vital as like every

Allround is sold through both direct and indirect channels, the venue of direct to the retailer allows for more control over the product placement in the modes of independent drug stores, but for larger stores such as grocery stores, mass merchandisers, and chain drug stores the study found that they focus concerns on product turnover and given allowances for the product.

Ads for pharmaceutical drugs are everywhere. They are in magazines, on television and radio, on billboards, and on the little bags that you get from the pharmacist. These days it is difficult to get away from all the drug advertising. All these ads are for products that require a doctor's prescription. The goal of advertising is to increase profits. By advertising so heavily for drugs that the majority of the population does not need, pharmaceutical companies attempt to create as large a consumer base as they can. In advertising directly to the consumer, the drug companies accomplish two objectives. First, they get information directly to the consumer. Second, they promote the product and

The pharmaceutical industry uses more intensive, widespread advertisements than any other industry in the United States (Federal Trade Commission 11). According to James Greenan, former presiding officer of the Federal Trade Commission, the industry's ads "usually function to present a problem-solution equation and register that equation in the memory of the potential consumer along with the brand name of the product involved" (Greenan 95). The brand name is presented as a possible solution to a problem. It is hoped that, in the potential consumer's mind, the brand name is associated with relief from an uncomfortable situation. For example, the two ad slogans,

In 2015, the pharmaceutical industry spent over 27 billion dollars on advertising. The two greatest components of this effort were promotional advertising and free medication sampling, which the pharmaceuticals invested 15.5 and 5.7 billion dollars respectively (“Persuading the Prescribers”). Promotional advertising involves direct contact with health professionals, the most common being extravagant lunch conferences held for physicians and their staff. On the other hand, sampling involves distributing free sample of medications to physicians, who then have a choice of providing these samples to patients. As a result of these methods, the industry has seen revenue around $400 billion with 90% of physicians having a relationship with a drug company (Campbell 2007). Moreover, the prices of prescriptions continue to rise; a copay of a generic drug is $11.72, preferred brand drug is $36.37 and a specialty drug is $58.37 (Coleman and Geneson 2014). Although the profits are immense in the numbers demonstrated above, it is no surprise when pharmaceutical drug companies elevate their prices even more. For instance, recently Turing Pharmaceuticals raised the price of their medication Daraprim from $13.50 to $750. Keep in mind, this medication is used for threatening parasitic infections, aids, and cancer with alternative options currently found to be inefficient (Pollack 2015). Another example of this practice involves cycloserine, a drug used to

There are proponents of DTC prescription drug ads. They argue that “the ads inform patients about diseases and possible treatments, encourage people to seek medical advice, help remove stigma associated with medical conditions, and provide needed sales revenue to fund costly research and development (R&D) of new drugs (Drug Ads ProCon.org).” On the flip side opponents argue “that DTC drug ads misinform patients, promote drugs before long-term safety-profiles can be known, medicalize and stigmatize normal conditions and bodily functions like wrinkles and low testosterone, waste valuable medical appointment time, and have led to our society’s overuse of prescription drugs (Drug Ads ProCon.org).”

Direct to consumer is a form of advertising that markets directly to consumers bypassing the distributor. In the mid 1980’s pharmaceutical

Annually, the US spends $300 billion dollars on pharmaceutical drugs. This is due to the over-diagnosing of certain conditions. Everyday, Americans are exposed to an enormous amount of advertisements for medications of all kinds. For example, 1 in 10 Americans are taking

Specific purpose: To inform my audience about the growing problem of prescription drug abuse, some common drugs that cause abuse, and their effects and some common treatments.

Promoting this product will boost sales and garner more customers for both Allround and the drugstore

For example T.V, the net, text messages and emails have all provided new and effective ways of marketing internationally and at a cheap price. This means that communication possibilities and user interaction between promotional campaigns is much easier.

Patients are taking control of their healthcare needs. They are more informed than ever. The internet plays a major role in their learning. They are scheduling their appointments when their schedule permits and not the doctors, an end to long surgical waiting lists, and they want the latest best medications. Health care simply will never stay the same. It changes on a daily basis (Dranove & Sfekas, 2009).

There are many direct to consumer advertising for prescription drugs. On television, magazines, radio etc, you see the most recent advertisements for prescription drugs. After some people see the advertisements they soon rush over to their doctor and their illness and life would be perfectly pain and stress free. Making the public conscious of options for treatment is not a bad thing. But these false advertisements are misleading consumers onto unnecessary treatment.

There are existing FDA regulatory standards about truthful drug advertising and promotion. It is FDA's mission to ensure the enforcement of better communication of labeling and promotional information. The mere inclusion of disease information in promotional materials is discouraged as it is misleading. Based on a study conducted by FDA, they found out that exposure to disease information as part of DTC prescription drug ad leads people to believe that a drug treats or addresses all the conditions mentioned in the disease

Think about how often you are watching your favorite show on television and all of a sudden you are interrupted by a commercial. The commercial begins with the following words, “Do you suffer with …” and this question follows with the following sentence, “if so, then talk to your doctor about … (the name of the medication that is being advertised)”. These prescription drug advertisements are being shown all over the United States multiple times a day. It is these advertisements that are used for publicity and marketing that are affecting Americans. The majority of Americans engage in watching television. The prescription drug advertisements do have a positive impact on Americans but, these advertisements do more harm than good.