Comparison of the effects of help-seeking and product-claim direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) and the underlying mechanism

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the differential effects of help-seeking and product-claim direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) on consumers’ attitude toward the ad, intention to seek information and intention to see a doctor. This paper also seeks to examine the underlying mechanism of these effects and the moderating role of advertising literacy. Design/methodology/approach An online experiment was conducted with 130 adults who experienced narcolepsy symptoms and experimental stimuli promoting a fictitious drug for narcolepsy. Findings Help-seeking DTCA generated lower persuasion knowledge activation than product-claim DTCA, resulting in lower skepticism, more favorable attitude toward the ad and higher behavioral intentions. The effects of ad type were stronger among consumers with higher advertising literacy. Originality/value This is the first study that provides a thorough examination of the underlying mechanism of the differential effects of help-seeking vs product-claim DTCA as well as the roles of consumers’ advertising literacy on ad outcomes.

Direct to Consumer Pharmaceutical Advertising – Helpful or Harmful?

While direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) has been legalized in the United States and New Zealand, the prescribed drug marketing has long reached other places in the world including the Asian regions. Behind the successful profit-making pharmaceutical companies, concerns about public health impacts to the patient and physician counterpart have grown. Evidences illustrated that DTCA increases the volume of prescribing amount through patient demand and that the traditional manner of drug prescribing action has changed. However, the quality of health care trade in the relationship between physician and patient often overlooked and compromised. The systematic review analysed eight studies from five identified search engines using PRISMA guidelines. This review findings demonstrate DTCA implication in term of the health literacy, economic impact and relationship between physician and patient. Physician expressed substantial degree of dissatisfying behaviour when challenged with unnecessary need to prescribe drugs demand by patient. The prominent involvement of policymakers in regulating the guideline and controlling delivery of information in any advertisement related to drugs is direly important.

Patient Influencers: The Next Frontier in Direct-to-Consumer Pharmaceutical Marketing (Preprint)

UNSTRUCTURED Social media influencers are becoming an increasingly popular strategic communication tactic used across industry verticals like entertainment, fashion, and beauty, to engage directly with consumers. Pharmaceutical companies have also recently entered the social media marketing arena and within the bounds of governmental regulations, found unsuspecting ways to build relationships directly with patients using covert persuasion tactics like social media influencers. Due to consumers’ negative perceptions of pharmaceutical companies, it makes sense that new marketing tactics are being used to establish and improve relationships with consumers. Previous research well documents the ethical dilemmas of direct-to-consumer advertising, and there is recent burgeoning literature on online covert marketing tactics. The academic and medical literatures, however, are behind in regards to social media influencers used in health and medicine. The current paper highlights and defines current terms used in industry practice, but also calls for more investigation and sets forward a research agenda. As consumers spend more time online and patients continue to consult social media for health information, it is important that this new marketing trend does not go unnoticed.

Physicians Treating Alzheimer’s Disease Patients Should Be Aware that Televised Direct-to-Consumer Advertising Links More Strongly to Drug Utilization in Older Patients

Background: US direct-to-consumer advertising spending for medicine has soared in recent decades. Advertising has been shown to impact drug utilization. Most Alzheimer’s disease patients are above age 65 and may take a range of prescription medications for various disease states. Objective: To investigate how direct-to-consumer advertising is associated with the drug utilization of patients ≥65 years old. Methods: Using advertising expenditure data and Medicare Part D drug purchase claims, we performed regression analyses for each of the highest-spending drugs and age group, with cumulative monthly spending as the predictor variable and drug utilization as the response variable. For each drug, we ran a second set of regression analyses to determine if the spending-utilization correlation showed a significant difference between the two patient age groups (older than 65, younger than 65). Results: For all 14 drugs in our study, advertising spending is positively correlated with utilization (p < 0.01) in both age groups. For seven of the 14 drugs studied, the difference in the utilization of patients older than 65 and the utilization of patients younger than 65 is statistically significant at a p < 0.01 level. The 65-and-older age bracket exhibits significantly greater utilization for all seven of these drugs. Conclusion: We find televised advertising for certain drugs to be associated with significantly stronger drug utilization among seniors, as compared to younger patients. Alzheimer’s disease physicians should be aware of this result, in light of the medications that patients may take for other disease states, particularly mood and mental health medications.

Online marketing practices of regenerative medicine clinics in US-Mexico border region: a web surveillance study

Introduction The potential of regenerative medicine to improve human health has led to the rapid expansion of stem cell clinics throughout the world with varying levels of regulation and oversight. This has led to a market ripe for stem cell tourism, with Tijuana, Mexico, as a major destination. In this study, we characterize the online marketing, intervention details, pricing of services, and assess potential safety risks through web surveillance of regenerative medicine clinics marketing services in Tijuana. Methods We conducted structured online search queries from March to April 2019 using 296 search terms in English and Spanish on two search engines (Google and Bing) to identify websites engaged in direct-to-consumer advertising of regenerative medicine services. We performed content analysis to characterize three categories of interest: online presence, tokens of scientific legitimacy, and intervention details. Results Our structured online searches resulted in 110 unique websites located in Tijuana corresponding to 76 confirmed locations. These clinics’ online presence consisted of direct-to-consumer advertising mainly through a dedicated website (94.5%) or Facebook page (65.5%). The vast majority of these websites (99.1%) did not mention any affiliation to an academic institutions or other overt tokens of scientific legitimacy. Most clinics claimed autologous tissue was the source of treatments (67.3%) and generally did not specify route of administration. Additionally, of the Tijuana clinics identified, 13 claimed licensing, though only 1 matched with available licensing information. Conclusions Regenerative medicine clinics in Tijuana have a significant online presence using direct-to-consumer advertising to attract stem-cell tourism clientele in a bustling border region between Mexico and the USA. This study adds to existing literature evidencing the unregulated nature of online stem cell offerings and provides further evidence of the need for regulatory harmonization, particularly to address stem cell services being offered online across borders.