Media and message effects on DTC prescription drug print advertising awareness

Despite various surveys of consumer attitudes toward direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug advertising, little is known about the effectiveness of specific advertising campaigns.

media and message effects on DTC prescription drug print advertising awareness

Martin S. RothUniversity of South Carolina

To date, two things are well known about direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription drugs – annual expenditures keep going up and the debate over the merits and effectiveness of DTC drug advertising continues. Advertising expenditures for prescription drugs in consumer media surpassed $2.5 billion in 2001 compared to $200 million in 1994. In 2000 DTC was the fourth largest advertising category in the U.S. market, behind only cars and trucks, restaurants, and movies (reported in Blankenhorn, Duckwitz, and Sherr, 2001). Research on...

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