Prescription drug advertising: trends and implications

Prescription drug advertisements which appeared in two leading American medical journals in 1972, 1977 and 1982 were analyzed to discover possible trends in advertising. The 5016 ads examined showed that ads for the diuretic-cardiovasculars, especially the beta-adrenergic blocking agents and the slow channel inhibitors, as well as the analgesics, had increased, while ads for the anti-infectives and tranquilizers had diminished. The average amount of space allocated for each ad had increased. On the average, most ads (69%) depicted neither male nor female patients in their graphics, and a trend of increased neutrality was observed. When the hormones were excluded, an average of 21% of the ads showed male patients and 10% showed females. Since a relationship was discerned between the leading drugs advertised and the leading prescriptions filled, it was concluded that advertising does have some effect on the prescribing behavior of practitioners. The findings suggest that great investment in advertising is necessary in order to achieve high levels of sales for such drugs as Valium (diazepam) which do not have a clear-cut ameliorative effect on a specific physiological condition. On the other hand, it was suggested that saturation advertising would not significantly enhance the sales of such drugs as Dyazide (triamterene and hydrochlorothiazide) because of its well established therapeutic value in the control of hypertension. Ten advertising companies, on the average, had purchased 67% of all advertising space and five had purchased almost half (47%). The same two pharmaceutical companies were among the top five advertisers and the same five were among the top ten for the three years studied.