Effects of direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceutical products on college students

This study examines college and university students' responses to direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceutical products in magazines. Four hundred seventy-one students from three institutions participated in the study that found that the majority of the students were frequent magazine readers, they noticed ads for the pharmaceutical products, and they used the advertised products. Although most students denied buying or using the products because of the ads, there was a significant correlation between number of ads seen and number of products used.