Superimposed text size and contrast effects in DTC TV advertising: Bigger is better, high contrast not so much

Ryan S. Paquin, Amie C. O’Donoghue, Bridget J. Kelly, Kevin R. Betts, Mihaela Johnson, Christine N. Davis, Alyssa Jordan, and Peyton Williams

Direct-to-consumer prescription-drug television advertisements often contain superimposed text (supers) to convey information about the advertised product.
Paquin et al

MANAGEMENT SLANT

  • Formatting features of supers in direct-to-consumer prescription-drug advertising—such as variations in size and contrast—have implications for communicating important drug information.
  • Although exposure to low-contrast supers in this study improved awareness and claim recognition, extraneous layout and design features might have confounded the contrast manipulation.
  • Super size affects fair-balance-related perceptions. Small supers can minimize the perception of risk relative to presentations of drug effectiveness.

INTRODUCTION

Direct-to-consumer prescription-drug advertisements have appeared on U.S. television frequently since 1997 (Chandra and Miller, 2005; Gelland and Lyles, 2007). In 2016, 771,368 direct-to-consumer prescription-drug advertisements...

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