Direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising: understanding its consequences

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug advertising is one of the fastest-growing advertising categories in the USA and has generated a great deal of controversy among policy makers, physicians and consumer advocates.

Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertising: Understanding Its Consequences

Jisu HuhUniversity of Minnesota

Lee B. BeckerUniversity of Georgia

INTRODUCTION

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug advertising is allowed in only two countries: the USA and New Zealand. Even in the USA, this type of advertising is a relatively new phenomenon. Until the early 1980s, most marketing efforts by pharmaceutical manufacturers concentrated on creating and maintaining supply-chain demand for their prescription drugs through sales promotion and detailing (Holtz 1998). If advertising was used in a pharmaceutical company's marketing programme, it took the form of trade advertising directed at physicians and pharmacists. Even after...

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