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...