Dtc Advertising Pros

With healthcare being a controversial topic in the public eye lately, one topic brought up frequently is how companies advertise medication to consumers. Everyone has seen the commercials on television, the typical ad discussing that a certain, name-brand drug has countless benefits and will treat a condition you were unaware you had until you saw it ten seconds ago in that commercial. The last ten seconds of the ad includes a voice rushing through negative side effects, while showing a woman/man enjoying life to the fullest. There is no mention on what other conditions the drug can treat, who should take the medication, effectiveness of the drug, how it compares with other treatments, or the percentage of patients who experience side effects.

Compared to the rest of the world, the United States is one of two countries that allow DTC advertising for prescription drugs. This has allowed the industry to spend ridiculous amounts of money on advertisements. ABC7 states: “Advertising dollars spent by drug makers have increased by 30 percent in the last two years to $4.5 billion.” It is interesting that the healthcare industry is spending such a high number on advertisements if they are not very effective in educating the consumer. If DTC advertisements had an educational function, it could be beneficial in teaching the public on a condition that is serious and undertreated, bringing awareness to the condition, and offering treatment methods that are highly effective and safe compared to

Usually the medication advertised has more problems than the condition it is treating. In addition, advertisements have changed the doctor-patient relationship. DTC advertising has changed the way doctors and patients communicate for worse. Naomi Freundlich writes in her article about medication advertisements: “Fewer than 10% of physicians believe direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) is a positive trend in health care. Doctors report that they now spend more time explaining to patients why an expensive new drug is no better than the one they already take, or that the patient isn 't suffering from a nebulous condition like fibromyalgia, just the normal aches and pains of aging.” This pressures physicians to prescribe when patients come in requesting a particular newer (not necessarily better), more expensive medication by name. 70% of physicians complied with requests when a patient requests a medication by name (Freundlich). Rather than advertising a new drug, education on the condition itself would be more effective. If the government would regulate and limit DTC drug advertising, it would reduce healthcare spending. Three bills have been proposed to solve this: Families for ED Advertising Decency Act (bans ads for prescription sexual aids like Viagra from prime-time television due to children possibly seeing it), prohibiting