Direct-To-Consumer Advertising

This paper is concern with legal and ethical issues in advertising, marketing, regulations and intellectual property of product safety with respect to PharmaCARE which is a pharmaceutical company. The paper includes the information regarding drug companies, Direct to Consumers (DTC) marketing. Next we will

Advertisements have one primary purpose that is to persuade. Prescription medications Ads tell the consumers to get treatment and also imply that they have the need for it to solve their problems. Since prescription Ads have been introduced, the pharmaceutical

A lot of the direct-to-consumer advertisement research uses antidepressant medication ads as their variable of choice since that is the medication most advertised on both television and in print. However, there are very few advertisements for non-medication based intervention even though it has been show to be just as effective in the treatment of depression. This is because the companies that provide these interventions do not have the budget that the pharmaceutical companies possess. If given the money to create an advertisement to highlight integrated care, psychoeducation, and the role of the social worker, a cognitive behavioral therapy group focused on depression would be the intervention and diagnoses the campaign would promote. If successful, then the campaign would be branched out to other diagnosis.

Direct to consumer marketing has had a lot of debates across the world and specifically in terms of pharmaceutical companies. The main focus has been in terms of the benefits and the weaknesses of the marketing strategies. Both these have attracted much claims and debates. The direct to consumer marketing strategies permit the pharmaceuticals companies to effectively reach out to the customers and to directly market to the customers. By direct promoting of the prescription to the patients, these companies are also able to influence the decisions of the patients. However, in the case of the pharmaceuticals, the main argument is that this marketing approach permits them to make better ways to get the patients to buy the products. Hence, along with keeping the patients informed about the ways of administering the drugs as well as assisting the company to prescribe the correct drug.

Pharmaceutical drug companies spent nearly $4.6 billion more on advertising aimed directly at consumers in 2009 than in 1995. This dramatic increase is largely due to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision to reform their standards regarding direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising. Prior to the changes that occurred in 1997, all DTC advertisements had to include a brief summary of the drug’s warnings, precautions, adverse effects, and situations in which the drug should not be used. In place of the brief summary, the FDA’s new regulations introduced two new criteria: the major statements clause and the adequate provision clause (Ventola). Instead of a brief summary, the major statements clause requires advertisements to disclose only

The thing with ads is that they get you to want the thing that is trying to be sold, so what do they do? Well they have to say anything to lower you in to convince you to get it they are just trying to sell the product can you blame them they have to make money. Using specific words like low price, claiming it will change things for you and your life and of course many ads claim help, many ad say that and that gets our attention because many want help.in the book language awareness weasel words:the art of saying nothing at all by William Lutz he states that “ the biggest weasel words used in advertising doublespeak is help” and I think so also because if we look at medicines ads they always say this will help you with your cough, fever, headache,

The FDA claimed in its July/August 2004 issue that truthful DTC advertising encourages patients to talk more about health problems, removes the stigma surrounding certain diseases, and even reminds patients to take their medication when they see advertisements.

If it were illegal to air these advertisements, the numbers of certain medications prescribed would decrease significantly. As shown by the law, direct-to-consumer advertisements (DTC ads) are illegal in the United Kingdom. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) medication gets prescribed 25 times more frequently in the United States than in the United Kingdom. This shows a correlation between the ads and the prescriptions being written (Stange). Drug companies advertise on television so they can successfully pitch directly to their patients. The reason they do this is because these medications are not nearly as good for a patient as they sound, therefore doctors do not prescribe them often. Without DTC advertising, people would not be able to self diagnose and convince themselves that they need a medication for a condition that they do not clinically have. A primitive example for this is adderall, the drug prescribed for patients with ADHD. Other places, such as the United Kingdom, allow doctors to make the calls and diagnoses, so only the patients with the disorder receive the medication. A common argument against this is that 64% of physicians surveyed concluded that these drug advertisements encourage potential

The published research about the impact of over-the-counter non-prescription drug advertising is very limited. Most of published research articles already focused on impact of drug advertising on prescription drugs due to incredible development of prescription drug’s advertising starting from the year of 1997. The main reason is slacking of FDA’s regulation on drug’s advertising session (DeLorme et al, 2010; Huh & Becker, 2005).

Direct-to-Consumer Advertisements have both good and bad aspects to it, as discussed previously. The question that comes to mind is whether or not the beneficial sides outweigh the bad ones in the eyes of consumers, physicians, and other healthcare providers. According to Kannan et al (1), 97 physicians of the 155 surveyed, reported that patients asked about a drug advertisement they had seen. Of those 97 physicians, 51 of them agreed that the drugs they questioned about were not useful for their condition. Only 51 physicians of the 155 thought that this would help strengthen the relationship between them and their patients. Rather, 82 doctors thought it would hurt the relationships. This could be due in part that the doctor would be declining

Using this Deontological approach we will look at the pharmaceutical advertising. As a free nation, we have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Furthermore, there is a moral obligation for us to do what is right. From the corporate perspective, nearly all other businesses are allowed to advertise. The purpose of advertising from a corporate perspective is to teach individuals what their products offer the public so they can increase profit for the company. There are rules that they have to follow to ensure the information is accurate. There is nobody forcing a purchase of the drugs, it is mere information that is available to all public for their benefit. There is a choice that is made by the public. They will either choose to purchase the drugs that will help them, or will not. From the public perspective, they want to have access to the information that will help them lead a better life regardless of who they are. Under the veil of ignorance, we should all be able to know and understand every option that is available to us so that we can live happier and healthy lives. Pharmaceutical products offer people a better way to live their lives no matter who you are. There are drugs for arthritis that help people live better by reducing pain and increasing mobility; drugs for helping people get a better night of sleep; drugs for

One of the biggest problems with direct to consumer advertising is the dangerous medicalizing of our citizens. Medicalization: To take a normal human condition and turn it into a medical condition that needs to be treated. At issue with opponents of DTCA is the belief that the advertisements gloss over the (sometimes-serious) side effects. These ads portray the message of happy and carefree people whose lives are better because of these drugs. The ubiquitous ads promote these drugs to the exclusion of any natural remedies or simple lifestyle changes

Prescription drug ads are a form of Direct-To-Consumer ads (DTC) only displayed in the U.S. and New Zealand. DTC ads are quite literally everywhere in the media; television commercials, pages in magazines, and even sponsoring athletics teams. While some may find the overwhelming amount of advertising of prescription drugs that we experience annoying, they come with great benefits of the viewers. For instance, DTC ads are informative, and bring in large masses of revenue to better medications.

I believe in the case where pharmaceutical companies are advertising with television commercials or paid advertisements within magazines are well within moral and good ethical standards. Consumers can choose to remain on the same television channel or read an advertisement within a magazine to become more educated about a specific pharmaceutical. However, in the case referenced in the article, where a pharmaceutical company sent representatives into support groups to speak on behalf of the pharmaceutical companies in a gesture to provide information, this seems to be unethical in my opinion. These groups to me, represent a “safe area” for members to have fellowship, exchange stories and support each other without ulterior motives being interjected from outside influences.

Consumers have wants and needs, and the most popular way to get those products known to consumers is advertising. Advertising provides the consumers with important information about the products and or services. Plus, how would the consumers know about things if they were not advertised in a particular way. Advertisements educate the consumers about the positive and negative effect of a product. For example, a medical, commercial may across your television or you may even see an ad about it in a magazine, throughout that ad the marketer will explain to you the good that