Prescription Drug Advertisments, I'm Not Amused

Prescription drug advertisements may be the reason I throw out my television. If you’re like me, you think prescription drugs advertisements range from laughable to a pathetic assault on our intelligence. But what’s not laughable is the fact that these ads may be detrimentally influencing the health of many people.

Patients watch these drug advertisements day after day and become familiar with the brand name drugs that can cost up to ten times as much than the cheaper “generic brands.” While the imagery of these ads may be appealing, the numerous side effects are rattled of at the end, or buried in the fine print.

In a recent Huffington Post article, Dr. Andrew Weil questions if we should be getting our drug information from actors. Weil says, “Sally Field is a talented actor. But what qualifies her to promote Bonivia, an osteoporosis drug that is of limited benefit, has worrisome side effects, and for which there are natural alternatives that merit careful consideration?”

Direct-to-consumer advertising, (DTCA) is not restricted to only television. These ads also saturate radio, the Internet and print, as well. Besides testimonials from celebrities another dangerous advertising tactic is that of the Video news release or (VNRs), also referred to as fake TV news. These advertisements appear to unsuspecting viewers as breaking new bulletins, and are designed to be indistinguishable from the regular news, and are frequently incorporated directly into newscasts.

Consumer surveys suggest that direct-to-consumer advertising increases the utilization of drugs. Patients who have confidence in celebrities are prompted to “ask their doctor”.
Many of these doctors may have encountered their own version of these name brand drug advertisements. The objective advertising aim is to have doctors “pre-primed with a parallel promotional campaign. Marketing aimed at doctors include advertisements and promotions, of favorable studies in medical journals. Doctors are visited by sales representatives and receive gifts such as free samples for patients, pens and note pads and are subsidized for “educational” events and conferences.

A November 2006 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office noted, “Studies we reviewed found that increases in DTC advertising have contributed to overall increases in spending on both the advertised drug itself and other drugs that treat the same condition.” Dr. Andrew Weil says, “An estimated 50% of Americans take at least one prescribed medication every day; in 2007 drug sales accounted for an astonishing $315 billion in revenue.”

“In 2000 for every dollar spent on direct-to-consumer advertisements yielded $4.20 in sales revenue. “The drug industry doesn’t spend $20 or $30 billion a year on advertising prescription drugs unless they believe it has an impact on doctors prescribing,” said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group. “You would probably like to know if your doctor is getting no money, some money, a lot of money or a huge amount of money, because it’s going to influence what that doctor decides for you.”


Currently the United States and New Zealand are the only two countries that allow direct-to-consumer advertising. The drug industry is mounting major lobbying campaigns to allow this type of advertising in Europe and Canada. The key argument that pharmaceutical companies use to defend their ads is that they lead more people to seek medical attention for treatable conditions and for regular checkups. I have a news flash for them; I’m not buying it.




By Renee Rotto