The influence of socialization agents on consumer responses to over-the-counter medicine advertising

Despite the prevalence of over-the-counter medicine advertising (OTCA) in electronic and print media, scholarly focus has tended to concentrate on direct-to-consumer prescription medicine advertising (DTCA).

The purpose of this study is to examine the mechanisms through which attitudes toward OTCA in general and OTCA prompted behaviors are formed based on a consumer socialization framework.

An online survey was conducted as part of a larger medicine and pharmaceutical advertising project using the Qualtrics online panel. A total of 819 individuals who had taken a prescription medicine in the last six months participated in the survey and yielded 539 completed questionnaires (Completion rate: 65.8%). Of those, 304 responses from U.S. adults who had taken an OTC medicine and had seen an advertisement for OTC medicines in the past six months were analyzed to test the proposed model. A series of structural equation modeling analyses of the survey data was performed.

The study results showed that consumers' use of mass media and professional interpersonal channels directly influenced attitudes toward OTCA and OTCA prompted behaviors. On the other hand, consumers' use of non-professional interpersonal channels indirectly influenced OTCA outcomes through their use of mass media and professional interpersonal channels. Younger respondents were more likely to obtain OTC medicine information from non-professional interpersonal and mass media sources whereas older respondents were more likely to obtain OTC medicine information from physicians and pharmacists.

Application of the consumer socialization framework in the context of OTCA provides expanded understanding of the mechanisms through which responses to OTCA are formed. The findings of this study provide implications for pharmaceutical marketers, health professionals, and consumers of OTC medicines.