Pharmaceutical Advertising

Pharmaceutical Advertising

Living in a culture that is so heavily influenced by media and advertising, it is almost impossible to open a magazine, watch television, or even walk down the street without seeing an advertisement for prescription drugs. Since its start in the early 19th century, the pharmaceutical industry has expanded to become one of the fastest growing, most influential and successful industries today. Over the years, many factors such as innovative technologies, new regulations, and company mergers and takeovers, have contributed to the rapid growth of this industry. However, on top of these factors lies the most powerful and persuasive reason why our society has become a drug-obsessive, pill-popping culture: the excessive, overwhelming marketing of prescription drugs to the public. From producing countless misleading prescription drug commercials to forming alliances with doctors by giving them free gifts, pharmaceutical companies have deceitfully found many ways to reach the public and increase their profits.

In the past, the marketing of prescription drugs was mainly targeted at health care professionals so they could consult with patients and make informed decisions about prescribing new medications. However, in the 1990s, pharmaceutical drug companies started using new marketing strategies, and in addition to targeting health care professionals, they turned their attention towards patients. The industry’s new market strategy: advertise prescription drugs directly to consumers. This kind of promoting, technically known as direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA), soon became the main focus for the U.S. pharmaceutical industry to increase its sales and profits. Soon enough every major drug company was using direct-to-consumer advertising because of the dramatic results it produced and it played a key role in competing with other companies in the industry. In addition, in 1997 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration relaxed restrictions on television and broadcast advertising, making the United States one of two countries (the other is New Zealand) that legalized DTCA of prescription drugs (Abramson). This opened the doors for drug companies because it made it much easier and convenient for them to market their drugs to the public. DTCA dramatically increased and soon became the powerful advertising technique that turned the pharmaceutical industry into a multi-billion dollar market. Just two years after restrictions were relaxed, sales and profits quickly rose. In fact, sales from the 50 best-selling prescription drugs rose from $730.6 billion in 1999 to $886.6 billion in 2000 (Weber). Also interesting to note are drug companies profits compared to other top industries. In 2001, profits of Fortune 500 companies declined by 53%, while the top ten U.S. drug makers increased profits by 32% (Kassirer).

Every year the pharmaceutical industry spends billions of dollars on DTCA. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, advertisements shown on television and in magazines made up about 94% of the total spending for DTCA in 2005 (GAO). Consumers see commercials on TV that encourage them to ask their doctor about new prescriptions that might help them. In addition, pharmaceuticals companies rely on the traditional customs and practices of advertising to lure patients. One way of doing this is through establishing brand identities for these products by creating an emotional bond between the consumer and the drug (Weber). Elizabeth Preston, Department of Communication Chair at Westfield State College, explains that “these commercials can be deceiving because you don’t really ever see the medical condition being represented; you don’t see people suffering the ailment that they supposedly suffer from, you see them restored to health after they have taken the chemical.(Big Bucks)” Because people in these commercials are always portrayed as happy and healthy individuals, consumers may unconsciously link their emotional response to the kinds of social meanings companies have attached to that drug (Big Bucks). This is how the pharmaceutical industry tries to lure consumers into buying their drug, and if they do fall for its advertising trap, then DTCA has done its job.

Most of these DTC advertisements were paid for by major drug companies that mainly market expensive brand-name drugs. The manufacturers claim the drugs need to be expensive in order to continue research and development in the future. Families USA, a consumer health organization, conducted a report that disproves this claim. According to their findings, out of the nine pharmaceutical companies they studied (Merck, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pharmacia, Abbott Laboratories, American Home Products, Eli Lilly, Schering-Plough, and Allergan), eight of them spent twice as much money on marketing and advertising their drugs than they did on research and development. Pfizer, who earned the highest sales in 2004, made approximately $50 billion dollars and only spent $7 billion on researching and development (Kassirer). So where did the rest of the $43 million dollars go? Take a look at statistics or reports from any major drug company and you will quickly find the answer. It is obvious that the pharmaceutical industry cares more about making profits by misleading the public through DTCA rather than focusing on developing drugs that are safe, effective, and affordable to patients.

Needless to say, the competitiveness of the pharmaceutical industry forces drug companies to go beyond just marketing to consumers. Although DTCA is definitely the most visible part of the industry marketing plan, drug companies also largely target their marketing towards physicians because they are the ones who write the prescriptions. This is where there is cause for concern. Pharmaceutical companies hire people, generally called sales reps, to market directly to doctors and other health care providers. The main responsibility of sales reps is not just to influence physicians to prescribe prescription drugs to patients, but to get them to prescribe their drugs. In order to do this, sales reps use a strategy that is a little less visible than DTCA.

This other marketing strategy is immediately obvious to anyone who steps inside a physician’s office. Free branded items can be found all around doctor’s offices by sales reps that drop them off to continually remind doctors and patients who they are and what they’re selling. “Freebies” such as pens, pencils, staplers, calendars, clocks, notepads, coffee mugs, mouse pads, baseball caps, and posters are given away regularly (Kassirer). Drug companies also give away an overwhelming amount of free drug samples to offices throughout the United