Summary: Direct-To-Consumer Advertising

Despite this, the industry did not alter its ways, maintaining that its ad campaigns were "educational," and that people were able to make their own decisions about what they purchased (Payer 66). However, it is evident that the advertisements produced by the pharmaceutical industry are designed for the very purpose of making it difficult for people to make these decisions independently. This marketing produces a large number of often deceptive, misleading tactics which have a large influence on both consumers and medical practitioners. The chief beneficiaries of this marketing are not the consumers but the pharmaceutical companies themselves.

Direct-to-consumer advertisements of prescription drugs have become common aspects in today's advertising mediums such as Television and magazines. Direct-to-consumer advertising has partially been brought by the development of the pharmaceutical marketplace. These developments have contributed to the presentation of more information to patients in attempts to make the health care system better. In the current pharmaceutical marketplace, advertising has become an important aspect for survival and growth in the health care outlets. For many health care outlets, television is regarded as the most efficient way for advertising in the pharmaceutical marketplace. While there are considerations on whether prescription drugs should be advertised to the general public, it's important to note that health care consumers should make their own choices.

DTC prescription drug ads raise people’s awareness of possible health issues and encourage them to seek medical advice they might not get otherwise. Knowledge is power, and DTC ads help people become educated about drugs, medical conditions, and

The readers of both Moss and Watters are introduced to the manipulative skills corporations hold within their mega-marketing and idea processing backgrounds. Both authors introduce their mega-marketing topics as a negative and chilling idea, in which the products that big corporations are trying to sell are related to something much simpler in terms of the effect’s it will have on the human body. For instance, Watters states “these practices are the medical equivalent of what real estate agents do to sell vacation time shares” (514). In this statement, he is comparing the selling objectives of drugs to vacation homes, and how corporations can use the same tactics in order to mega-market and sell their products. Watters is bringing up the idea of drug companies encouraging and advertising the use of antidepressants, as they are trying to change the morals and thoughts of diseases and drug usages of other countries such as Japan. Moss would agree with Watters’ idea of corporations using their persuasive actions on consumers. In his writing, he states that the world and “culture [has] become upset by the tobacco companies advertising to children, but we sit idly by while the food companies do the very same thing” (Moss 260). Both food and drug corporations take a stand in mega-marketing, pushing their ideas into the minds of consumers. Although they do not focus on separate beliefs of

Her main focus was on the television (T.V.) advertising of medicine that is done in this country. She finds it highly unethical that pharmaceutical companies advertise drugs that are needed by patients. She further explained that it is also the way which marketing is conducted, “showing cheery people with fabulous hair on sunny days” (F. McClure, personal communication, October 14, 2013). The general public is naive to the possible side effects of these drugs and/or do not grasp the severity of many of them. Most people are looking at the pleasing visuals in these commercials, therefore they do not notice the side effects of the drugs, because the notices are in small print or run through so quickly they are incomprehensible. The viewers want what they see and ask their physicians for these drugs by name. In turn, doctors order the drugs; the companies grow bigger and market more drugs. It is a perpetual cycle, McClure expounds, and one that she and many of her cohorts wish would stop.

Commercials and ads showcase many products. They have one goal: to sell. This means that companies will do whatever they (legally) can to get customers. A The Onion article critiques how products are marketed to consumers falsely, with lies and deceit. To further explain, the author does this through the exaggeration of quotes from said “consumers,” as well as using providing sarcasm through the fake product “Magnasoles.”

In the January 18th 2016 issue of People Magazine, AstraZeneca ran an advertisement for Seroquel XR, an atypical antipsychotic. This advertisement was just one of seven prescription drug advertisements in the 94 page magazine, all urging readers to ask their doctors about a medication. These seven advertisements are a small sample of the direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertisement that flood television, radio, magazines, newspapers, and websites in the United States. The debate about whether DTC advertisement for psychotropic medication provides the consumer with more information and power over their medical care and reduces stigma or whether it leads to physicians to prescribing medications before assessing other treatment options and adds to the

The broad language and lack of specifics ironically exaggerate the feelings of everyday life. For example, the announcer says, “You know when you feel the weight of sadness.” He does not specifically say how long and how many times it occurs. The broadness leaves it up in the air for interpretation; therefore, a person who has experienced sadness for three seconds yesterday could self-diagnose themselves with depression. Since everyone has experienced sadness before, it immediately relates to everyone watching while making it personal to them at the same time because he uses the word “you” ten times in the span of a minute. It makes a large effort to relate to the largest amount of people possible the commercial can attract a larger amount of potential buyers and convince doctors. The advertisement even goes as far as to make the main character a featureless ball.

This advertisement, created in “2016”, was designed for publication in the US, as demonstrated by the English words and the American dollar sign. It targets an audience of parents in an effort to support the “movement against prescription drug abuse” by teenagers, namely “[the audience’s] children.” The advertisement uses a strong visual metaphor, an emotional appeal, and persuasive techniques to convey the message that prescription drugs are too widely accessible, and that parents should take action to decrease the drugs’ accessibility and therefore decrease prescription drug abuse and make their children safer.

Direct to consumer advertising has been going on for decades to be able to push different products and drugs onto people. Americans see thousands of commercials every day and a larger chunk of them are for antidepressants. After watching many antidepressant ads, I began to see a pattern. They all start off with a very sad looking person but once they introduce the drug into the ad the person’s life has changed and they have the hugest smile on their face. One may think that it is just an ad and means nothing but believe it or not every image, person, and word said is carefully thought of to be able to manipulate the viewer. These ads use every emotion to be able to toll with a person’s mind. In the essay “Jesus Is a Brand of Jeans,” Jean says

Medical commercials are something that the general public have learned to phase out if it has nothing to do with them or anyone they know. These prescription drug advertisements are usually jam-packed with too much information and often leaves their audience snoring. However, the newest commercial for Opdivo (Nivolumab) recently caught my attention. Through its use of emotional tones, symbolic visuals, and hopeful tagline, Opdivo is able to capture the interest of someone suffering with certain diseases and inform them about their product. The history of drug advertisements is a long one, and Opdivo’s “New Hope” commercial simply adds to its legacy by using the following aspects to grab their audience’s

Advertising companies have capitalized on people’s desire for expedient and effective results by changing their sales strategies in order to increase profit. Consumers and physicians are specifically targeted in direct-to-consumer advertising strategies, such as ads on television, magazines, and other physician-focused promotions. Studies that assess the effect of advertising show an increase in prescribing practices as well as an increase on the demand for prescription medication. Because prescription medications are perceived as valuable for health maintenance, economic theorists predict changes in marketing costs are not likely to impact pharmaceutical sales further demonstrating the strong relationship between physicians’ willingness to prescribe and patients’ need to consume medications. The cyclical relationship of advertising companies, to physicians, and to consumers reveals the significant influence money can have on prescribing practices, which may have strong implications for overprescribing

Direct-to-consumer drug advertising (DTCDA) has grown rapidly during the past several years and considers now the most prominent way of health communication that the public admires and this type of advertising could be distributed through different channels most commonly include television, radio, magazines, newspapers, the Internet, and another mass media forms like billboards and direct mailings (Abel GA, Penson RT, Joffe S, et al., 2006).

In fact, “from 1997 to 2007, these procedures, overall, rose 457% to almost 12 million per year and an increase of 114% in actual surgeries, such as breast implants and liposuction”(Hodgson), all as a result of the influence of the advertising environment. Yet despite these statistics, many people feel exempt from the influence of advertising, this is because “only 8% of an ad’s message is received by the conscious mind, the rest is worked and reworked deep within the recesses of the brain”(Kilbourne). This working and reworking of the ad’s subliminal message of the brain is exponentially increased by the amount of ad’s the average American is exposed to every day. On average, Americans are exposed to over three thousand advertisements per day and will have been spent two years of their lives watching advertisements on the Internet and television by the time they die. This two hundred and fifty billion dollar per year industry that we call advertising profits from the appeasement of its consumers but at the cost of the consumers mental state. The cost of this environment, however, goes much further than just the environment itself, and extends rather into the direct objectification and dehumanization of women.

Direct response marketing is a marketing effort aimed at driving immediate action from specific action from the targeted audience. Such action could be an opt-in mail, calling to a provided phone number, clicking a link or buy the suggested product. It differs from mass market which simply reminds prospective customers of the existence of products and services for them to purchase. It runs on the idea that the more times clients see a particular ad, the more they are likely to buy. Direct response marketing on the other hand, targets a particular segment in the market and attempts to move the clients to act immediately