The Attitudes of Consumers toward Direct Advertising of Prescription Drugs

Attitudes about prescription drug advertising directed to consumers were assessed in 1,509 persons who had viewed prototypical advertisements for fictitious prescription drug products. Although many subjects were generally favorable toward the concept of drug advertising directed to consumers, stron...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Public health reports (1974) 1986-01, Vol.101 (1), p.82-89
Main Authors: Morris, Louis A., Brinberg, David, Ron Klimberg, Carole Rivera, Lloyd G. Millstein
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Advertising as Topic - methods
Advertising campaigns
Age Factors
Arthritis - drug therapy
Attitude
Community Participation
Consumer advertising
Educational Status
Evaluation Studies as Topic
Female
Humans
Hypertension
Hypertension - drug therapy
Male
Middle Aged
Periodicals as Topic
Pharmaceutical Preparations
Physicians
Prescription drugs
Sex Factors
Sumer
Surveys and Questionnaires
Television
Television commercials
Television programs
United States
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Summary:Attitudes about prescription drug advertising directed to consumers were assessed in 1,509 persons who had viewed prototypical advertisements for fictitious prescription drug products. Although many subjects were generally favorable toward the concept of drug advertising directed to consumers, strong reservations were also expressed, especially about television advertising. Prescription drug advertising did not appear to undermine the physician's authority, since respondents viewed the physician as the primary drug decision-maker. However, the physician was not perceived as the sole source of prescription drug information. Television advertising appeared to promote greater information-seeking about particular drugs; however, magazine ads were more fully accepted by subjects. Furthermore, magazine ads led to enhanced views of the patient's authority in drug decision-making. The greater information conveyed in magazine ads may have given subjects more confidence in their own ability to evaluate the drug and the ad. Ads that integrated risk information into the body of the advertisement were more positively viewed than ads that gave special emphasis to the risk information. The results suggest that consumer attitudes about prescription drug advertising are not firmly held and are capable of being influenced by the types of ads people view. Regulation of such ads may need to be flexed to adapt to the way different media are used and processed by consumers.
ISSN:0033-3549
1468-2877