A Prescription for Profit
In 2007, the pharmaceutical industry spent approximately $4.8 billion dollars a year advertising prescription drugs directly to the public (ProCon.org 2005). A study by two York University researchers estimates the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spends nearly twice as much on promotion as it does on research and development (York University, 2008). Why do they spend so much money marketing to the consumer? The simple answer is profit. Like any other business pharmaceutical companies are out to sell a product and make money. The primary concern of the pharmaceutical industry is not the welfare of the consumer but convincing them to take their drug. In order to eliminate this conflict of interest the pharmaceutical industry should be banned from directly marketing their products to the consumer.
Direct-to-consumer advertising of drugs has been legal in the United States since 1985, but exploded in 1997 when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) relaxed the rules regarding disclosure of side-effects in infomercials (Calfee, 2002). Since that time the in...
In Melody Peterson’s “Our Daily Meds” , the history of marketing and advertising in the pharmaceutical industry is explored. The first chapter of the book, entitled “Creating disease”, focuses on how major pharmaceutical companies successfully create new ailments that members of the public believe exist. According to Peterson, the success that these drug manufacturers have experienced can be attributed to the malleability of disease, the use of influencial people to promote new drugs, the marketing behind pills, and the use of media outlets.
In America today, many people are in need of medical help. In fact,the Federal Trade Commission estimates that 75% of the population complain of physical problems (Federal Trade Commission 9). They complain, for example, of fatigue, colds, headaches, and countless other "ailments." When these symptoms strike, 65% purchase over-the counter, or OTC, drugs. In order to take advantage of this demand, five billion dollars is spent by the pharmaceutical industry on marketing each year . This marketing, usually in the form of advert...
Direct-to-consumer prescription drug ads are dangerous and can have serious effects on the health of the general public. In the article “Pros & Cons Arguments: ‘Should prescription drugs be advertised directly to consumers?’”, the pros and cons of the advertising of prescription drugs are compared. The negative aspects of these ads outweigh that of the positives. DTC prescription drug ads misinform patients, promote over-usage, and pressure medical providers. The counter side argues that these ads inform patients, create a positive impact on patient compliance with medication, and cause patients to confront their doctors.
DTC advertisements aim to persuade that their possibly less effective drugs work better than other drugs rather than to inform consumers of correct information about drugs. The reason that pharmaceutical companies abuse the power of DTC advertising is because the pharmaceutical industry does not have a strong ethical code for advertising; their sales are so obsessed with profits. To solve this problem, policy makers should prohibit indiscreet DTC advertisements on air and fund more informative services about new drugs so that patients could make clever
In Melody Peterson’s “Our Daily Meds” , the history of marketing and advertising in the pharmaceutical industry is explored. The first chapter of the book, entitled “Creating disease”, focuses on how major pharmaceutical companies successfully create new ailments that members of the public believe exist. According to Peterson, the success that these drug manufacturers have experienced can be attributed to the malleability of disease, the use of influencial people to promote new drugs and the efficient usage of media outlets.
We live in a world where being medicated has become a societal norm. Modern health care practices have set the stage for the proliferation of direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription drugs by pharmaceutical manufacturers. Some of these practices include the emergence of managed care organizations (MCOs), the legalization of DTCA of prescription drugs, the emergence of the Internet as an alternative promotional channel, the increased desire by patients to become more involved in their own health care decisions, the disillusionment with traditional medicine, and the rise of ‘alternative’ medicine, to name a few. There is an ongoing debate as to the ultimate harm or benefit of this relatively recent practice of pharmaceutical manufacturers to direct their promotional efforts away from the physician and towards the consumer.
I have chosen to review an article from the Journal of Health Communication. The Journal of Health Communication reports studies both of qualitative and quantitative values for the scholarly and professional individual. It is designed to give concise and ethical reviews of academic research (Scott C. Ratzan). Furthermore, the Journal of Health Communication focuses on promoting the vital life of the individual and the good health of the world’s people with presentation of research for the purpose of better health (Scott C. Ratzan). I choose to review an article which focused on the increased volume of prescription drug advertising directed to consumer, as it has grown tremendously over the past few decades. It has been reported, drug advertisements have experienced a significant increase in the amount of money spent on advertising from $47 million dollars in 1990 to nearly $2.5 billion in 2000 (Frank, Berndt, Donohue, Epstein, & Rosenthal, 2002; M...
In his article “Pharmaceutical Ads: Good or Bad for Consumers?” Larry Woodard addresses the problem of direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising. In particular, the author, in a very objective way, examines different perspectives on the direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising. He does not criticize the direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertisement in particular, but rather focuses on the problem of the pharmaceutical advertisement as a whole. Moreover, Woodard expresses a concern regarding pharmaceutical companies that “receive taxpayer subsidies” and at the same time put their own profit above their ethical obligations to the society. As for my opinion on the direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertisement, though I can agree with some of the points offered by the proponents of the topic; I believe pharmaceutical companies should have limited rights when advertising their products.
Direct to consumer advertising of prescription drugs should be banned as it does not promote public health. I argue that the direct advertising of prescription drugs leave consumers confused and misinformed about medications. Prescription drug advertisers possess an intrinsic and threatening financial conflict of interest that results in an exaggeration of the positive and, in a very real way, the marginalization of the negative qualities of a product. Such advertising biasly promotes only the most expensive prescription drugs as it simultaneously encourages the sense that prescription drugs are gender and race based solutions needed for most everyday problems.
Government factors into the equation of the argument. Critics of the drug industry say that there is not enough regulation, while supporters of the pharmaceutical companies argue that there is too much regulation and that that is one...
The Pharmaceutical Industry goals is to get as much profit incentive as possible through clinical trials, social networking, ads driving in a social movement in the demand for consumer goods. Patients have become more knowledgeable, demanding, and critical of medical care (Williams & Calman 1996). The internet has facilitated consumer involvement by offering easily accessible health-related information and providing a method for communication among like minded individuals (Hardey 2001). Medicalization from an analytical stand point is facilitated by the development of innovative technologies, consumer demands and the emergence of new medical markets in the hands of pharmaceutical enterprises. When medical products, services, or treatments are promoted to consumers to improve their health, appearance, or well-being, we see the development of medical market (Conrad & Leiter 2004).The race for cure, a Breast Cancer Awareness organization has been developed into a commodity for selling pink ribbons and bands. The awareness of Breast cancer is not being fully recognized by those who may not be knowledgeable of the treatments, mammograms, screening and essentially anything cancer related if the focus is on the marketing of products. Oftentimes, these corporations, sponsors, pharmaceuticals are concern with capitalizing on the health of the patience through empowering ads, to maximizing profits. Through private and
The mass production of consumer products has given rise to excessive use of branding. Due to increase in competition between companies that produce similar products, companies now aim to differentiate their product from others by solidifying their brand identity and creating awareness about their brands. The utilization of such branding strategies would not be much of a concern if they were only restricted to consumer products like food, clothing, beverages (Coke, Pepsi), etc. However, the influence of these strategies extends well beyond that. Even pharmaceutical companies have undertaken the approach of Direct-To-Consumer Marketing strategies where they target millions of healthy Americans by exposing them to persuasive commercials in the hope that they would buy the drugs sold by these pharmaceutical “brands”. This approach is very contrasting to the strategies used by pharmaceutical companies in the past. Previously, when patients needed medical attention, they would consult their doctors who would prescribe an appropriate medication for curing their illness. Due to this, pharmaceutical companies would target their marketing to medical professionals and doctors by promoting their drugs at conferences and in medical journals. However, today they have started using Direct-To-Consumer marketing strategies that entail consumer advertising, which directly target the consumers. The purpose of this research paper is to analyze the ways in which pharmaceutical companies use Direct-To-Consumer marketing for selling ailments to healthy customers and disillusion them into believing that they have a disease. To support this argument, the research paper will touch upon various marketing strategies that pharmaceutical companies use to creat...
Webster, John. "Drug Marketers Don't Always Deliver a Healthy Message." Spokesman-Review. 30 Sep. 2013: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 08 Mar. 2014.
It may sound unbelievable that Big Pharma has tremendous influence over everybody. However, we can see advertisements and commercials everywhere around us. Commercials on television market the drugs to society by depicting nice surroundings and happy consumers. This plants subliminal messages into our brain that subconsciously affects us, telling us that this drug will produce happiness when we take it. Even ads on billboards and newspapers affect the way we see drugs. All these messages tell us that we need drugs in order to be happy in life like the mom or children depicted on T.V. Every year, the pharmaceutical industry spends over $3 billion on consumer ads and the price is nothing compared to the billions of dollars the ads help rake in.
Advertising for Pharmaceutical products in the United Kingdom and the United States triggered frequent examination included integrated marketing communication, How they affect the audience, Social Responsibilities influence by the Advertising Standard Authority, UK, Impact of the advertisement towards the cultural in Malaysia, Globalization and Ethical Issues.