Drug Advertisements

The amount of money drug companies spend on TV ads has doubled in recent years, and it's no wonder. Studies show the commercials work. Consumers go to their doctors with a suggestion for a prescription drug they saw advertised on TV. Now, a study in the Annals of Family Medicine raises questions about the message these ads promote. In Piers, Patty Naiman reports. You are most likely to see drug ads during prime time, especially around the news. Researchers analyzed 38 ads aimed at people with conditions like hypertension, herpes, high cholesterol, depression, arthritis, and allergies. The drug industry says these ads arm consumers with information, but researchers found that though the information was technically accurate, the tone was misleading. UCLA psychologist Dominic Frosch headed the study. What we would see in these ads is that before taking the prescription drug, the character's life was out of control. And the loss of control really extended beyond just the impact of the health condition. For example, herpes patients were portrayed as being incapacitated for days, insomniacs utterly out of sync on the job, and depressed patients friendless and boring at parties. When the character is then shown taking the drug, he then magically regains complete control of his life. None of the ads of course mentioned lifestyle changes that could also help treat the condition. After all, it's mass marketing. But in this case, Frosch says prescription medications are not like soap.