Consumer Pharmaceutical Advertising - Article Example

Consumer Pharmaceutical Advertising ABSTRACT The report proliferates some of the fact regarding “Direct to Consumer Pharmaceutical Advertising in the USA”. In this regard, some of the different types of advertisements that DTCA possess is revealed. It has been identified DTCA possesses both pros and cons that have affected the consumers as well as the pharmaceutical companies. In this regard, FDA should strongly implement the guidelines, so that the promotional activities performed aid in leading towards a healthy society. Moreover, the consumers should be cautious regarding healthcare products, so that over dose and side effects can be minimised to a large extent. INTRODUCTION Definition. According to Ventola (669-684), direct to Consumer Advertising (DTCA) is a type of marketing that is extensively and exclusively observed in pharmaceutical industry. Although this form of marketing promotion is observed in other industries, but the term is exclusively derived from the marketing promotion in the pharmaceutical industry. In this regard, the marketing activities are primarily focused towards the patients’ end unlike targeting the healthcare professionals. The promotional activities or tools that are generally used in this form of marketing include the use of print media, television, radio, social media, and many more. In the present day context, marketing activities are identified to playing an effective role in the promotion of a product and/or service. Subsequently, different promotional tools are used by companies with the aim of making an effective reach to a large number of customers on a global context. Thesis Statement. The prime objective of the study is to undergo a comprehensive review of DTCA in the pharmaceutical industry in the US. In this regard, the paper focuses on understanding the concepts of DTCA and the history of different types of advertisements surrounding DTCA. The report also emphasizes the rules and regulations governing the promotional activity in the US. Moreover, it also intends to reveal the advantages as well as the disadvantages of adapting DTCA in the US pharmaceutical market. Some of the remedies that would lead to the growth of the pharmaceutical industry in the US through adapting DTCA are also discussed. Further, the report also highlights the effect of DTCA on health insurance and pharmaceutical industry that has lead to the shift of promotional activities towards social media for attracting customers. METHODOLOGY The methodology in the study used for the purpose of comprehensive understanding regarding DTCA and its impact in the US. In order to determine the aspects associated with DTCA a qualitative research study has been performed. The study is based on the secondary research papers of several scholars of the world. Through the comprehensive understanding of several research papers, this paper is being constructed. Moreover, the research papers that are used in the study are of wide range covering all possible dimensions of DTCA (Culyer 55 85). DIFFERENT TYPES OF ADVERTISEMENTS HISTORY SURROUNDING DTCA According to Gilbody, Wilson and Watt (246 250), there have been several forms of advertisements relating to DTCA in the US. These different forms have been extensively effective in the pharmaceutical industry of the US. Some of the advertisement forms are depicted hereunder. Print Advertising. As per the views of Encinosa, Meyerhoefer, Zuvekas and Du (1 - 4), this form of DTCA advertisement is very popular in the US. The industry uses newspapers, newsletters, booklets, printed mails, magazines especially health related, and many more. This form of advertising is extensively appealing and effective. Guerrilla Advertising. According to Campbell (1 – 17), in this form of DTCA advertisements, the pharmaceutical companies perform promotional functions by providing the customers of the products through an unconventional approach. This technique of DTCA advertisements in the pharmaceutical industry is being highly popular from the past two decades. This approach is extensively observed in the US pharmaceutical companies that have small budgets. However, the approach has been highly effective in the market of the US, as it brings innovations and creativity. Broadcast Advertising. As per the view of Stremersch, Landsman, and Venkataraman (89 -110), from the history of DTCA in the US, pharmaceutical companies have extensively used this approach of promoting their products. It has been observed that the pharmaceutical companies use television, radio, and other forms of broadcasting tools to promote the products directly to the consumers. This technique has been highly effective, as it reaches to the mass at a single effort. Moreover, promoting through the broadcast media is highly appealing. However, promoting through this approach is of extreme cost to an organisation. Thus, in the US, it is mostly observed that the large pharmaceutical companies are the ones that use the broadcast media for promoting its products directly to the consumers. Online Advertising. According to Frosch, and Grande (1- 4), in the US pharmaceutical market, it is observed that the online media is extensively used in the recent past few years. In this form of advertisements, the companies use certain popular websites or pages to promote the products directly to the consumers. This form of promotion is extremely effective in the market of the US as most of the consumers are available in the online medium. Cell Phone & Mobile Advertising. According to Chin (771 – 784), from the emergence of mobiles and smart phones in the US, the pharmaceutical companies have used this medium to promote the products directly to the consumers. In this regard, it is mostly observed in the US that the pharmaceutical companies send multimedia messages or text messages directly to the consumers. This approach has been has been highly effective as mobile phones are present to almost all consumers of the US. Moreover, promoting through this media is also comparatively cheaper. Public Service Advertising. According to Dave and Saffer (1-47), it is also observed in the US that the pharmaceutical companies introduce some campaigns in order to spread awareness regarding certain diseases or others. Although the initial steps are more focussed on spreading knowledge regarding certain diseases or others, but later on, the organisations intend to promote the curable products that the organisations possess. This approach has been highly effective in the US, as it has led to increase in the reliability of the consumers towards a company. RULES AND REGULATIONS GOVERNING DCTA According to the article published by Parekh, Marcus, and Roberts in “Risks and Benefits of Direct To Consumer Advertising On Patient-Provider Relationships– Report of the ISPOR Direct to Consumer Advertisements Working Group”, the pharmaceutical companies of the US bear the right to promote their product directly to the consumers, but the organisations also need to consider certain rules and regulations as stated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the US. In this regard, one of the major rules as stated by the FDA is to communicate to the consumers regarding the risks associated with the consumption of the products. The companies are liable to share all the information regarding the side effects of the products to the consumers during DTCA. The companies are also required to provide a brief summary to the side effects of the products in the printed form of advertisements. Moreover, in the television advertisements, there is a strong guideline set by the FDA suggesting that the companies must mention the most important risk factors to the consumers. There are also some more strong guidelines regarding the broadcast advertisements of the pharmaceutical products that include the suggestion of the sources to the consumers. These sources include the reference of reputed healthcare professionals, which include doctors or others. It also includes the sources like a toll-free telephone number, where the consumers would be able to seek further information regarding the products. In addition, the sources like reputed magazines that contain relevant information regarding the product should be communicated to the customers. Besides these, the broadcasting advertisements should also include the company website, where all the relevant information regarding the products are addressed (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “Keeping Watch Over Direct-to-Consumer Ads”). Besides the guidelines to the pharmaceutical companies of the nation, according to Wang, and Kesselheim (960 – 965), the FDA also provides some of the guidelines to the consumers. In this regard, the website of the FDA provides all the relevant information regarding the diseases of the modern day. The website is designed in very lucid structure that can be easily understood by the consumers. Moreover, the websites containing the guidelines regarding the manner through which an individual perceive information from DTCA. FDA also makes an attempt to prepare the consumers to interact with healthcare professionals. Moreover, the guidelines of the consumers also include the contact information to the FDA department during any evidence of the violation of the rules by the pharmaceutical companies (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “Keeping Watch Over Direct-to-Consumer Ads”). The below graphical representation depicts the letters related to promotion and the letters related to DCTA in the US in the past few years. Source: (Shaw, “DTC Regulation”) PROS OF DCTA According to Huh, Jisu, DeLorme, Reid, and An in “Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertising”, there are certain advantages or benefits of DCTA and these are extensively observed in the US pharmaceutical market. These advantages are shown elaborately in the sections hereunder. Awareness. According to Donohue, Cevasco, and Rosenthal (673- 681), it has been observed in the US that DCTA has contributed significantly in spreading awareness regarding certain diseases. It also suggests to the consumers that how the diseases could be treated through the use of suggested drugs of the company. Moreover, DCTA plays a significant role in spreading the importance of medication in curing diseases. It is also important to note that there are certain remote places in the US, where there are no healthcare professionals. In such cases, the prescribed drug through DCTA is extremely helpful for the consumers. Moreover, the awareness or the knowledge of the consumers regarding several diseases and the preventive or curable measures lead to the development of a healthy community. The knowledge and awareness not only benefits the consumers, but also to other people in a society. This is because of the fact that the people with higher knowledge regarding diseases are able to provide effective support to other people in a society. Positive Response by the Consumers. According to Donohue (659 – 699), majority of the people of the US has given a positive response towards DCTA approach by the pharmaceutical companies. The DCTA approach by the pharmaceutical companies has returned high profit to the organisations on account of the positive responses by the consumers of the US. Majority of the people of the US has reported the approach to be extremely helpful for the consumers. Preventive Care. According to Frosch, Grande, Tarn and Kravitz (24-32), DCTA has led to the motivation of the consumers to be cured effectively. Moreover, in the US, the consumers after DCTA are inclined to visit doctors and other healthcare professionals. Further, it is been noted that consumers are more inclined to ask logical questions to the healthcare professionals. The patients or the consumers are keen to undertake preventive measures with regard to several diseases. This has led to the generation of better healthcare environment throughout the US. Encourages Morality in Healthcare Practices. According to West, Squiers, McCormack, Southwell, Brouwer, Ashok, Lux, Boudewyns, O'Donoghue, and Sullivan (447-458), there are some of cultural and religious concerns that significantly disrupt the healthcare practices. Moreover, there are certain people in the US who possess superstitious thoughts regarding diseases. In this regard, the DCTA by the pharmaceutical companies have been highly effective in eliminating such misconceptions that significantly affect normal healthcare practices. Through DCTA, people are more aware of the cause of a disease and also the appropriate curable method and medication. This highly encourages morality among the people regarding healthcare practices. CONS OF DCTA According to Kusuma, Nunley, Mehta, Genuario and Kennedy in “DTCA: Improving patient education or simply increasing pharmaceutical profits?” noted that besides, the certain positive impacts of DCTA by the pharmaceutical companies in the US, there are also certain negative effects of the same that cannot be denied. These negative impacts are of major concern for the nation in order to create a healthy society. Some of these negative impacts of DCTA by the pharmaceutical companies are mentioned in the sections underneath. Can be Misleading. According to Mintzes (908-911), the DTCA approaches undertaken by the pharmaceutical companies are identified to be misleading. There are some of the instances in the US, where the prescription of inappropriate medication is provided to the consumers. The consumers because of such inappropriate medication have witnessed severe damage to his/her health. In this regard, it is also important to note that the majority of the pharmaceutical companies in the US intend to hide the side effects of the medicines. The consumers without consulting with the healthcare professionals consume medicines that may be injurious to their health. Moreover, it is also important to note that the prime objective of the pharmaceutical companies is to maximise profit and not the cure to the consumers. Thus, the strategies undertaken by the pharmaceutical companies are seemed to be misleading to the consumers to a certain extent. More money spends in Marketing than in Research and Development. According to Gilbody, Wilson, and Watt (246 – 250), in the US, majority of the organisations intends to spend more money in marketing rather than spending in the research and development. This is more prominent in case of the pharmaceutical companies that are engaged in DTCA program. It is estimated that the pharmaceutical companies that are engaged in DTCA activities spent a significant amount of money annually for marketing functions. Moreover, the limited spending in the research and development leads to the restriction of the development of products of better quality. The product underdevelopment significantly affects the consumers, as it may risk the life of the consumer or it may lead to the development of alternate diseases to the consumers. Increases the Price of Drugs. According to Gellad and Lyles (475 – 480), the DTCA approach as undertaken by majority of the pharmaceutical companies of the US is a very costly approach. Direct marketing to the consumers through the broadcast media is very expensive. Hence, DTCA through the broadcasting media especially through television is not financially feasible by many of the organisations. However, the pharmaceutical organisations in the US are spending a significant amount of money in promoting their products through television broadcasting. Besides the broadcasting media, it is also observed that the pharmaceutical companies of the US also spent a significant amount of money in promoting its products through the use of printed media. The promotional activities performed through the use of newspapers and magazines are very costly in the US. The other printed media promotional tools including the hoardings and banners are also very costly in the US. Thus, the overall printed media promotion in the US is extremely costly and the organisations that use such media for promotion of its products incur a significant cash outflow. Moreover, one of the promotional tools that are extensively used by the pharmaceutical tools in the US is the online media. Although, the tool is highly effective in promoting the products, but the web page or website owners charge a significant amount. Hence, it is estimated that the pharmaceutical companies of the US incur a large amount of cash outflow through promoting in online media. The increase in the cost of the pharmaceutical companies leads to the rise in the price of the products. The increased price of the products of the pharmaceutical companies greatly affects the consumers in the US in terms of high prices of products. Overuse of Prescribed Drugs. As per Mintzes (405 – 412), majority of the pharmaceutical companies in the US in order to incur maximum profit from the market encourages higher usage of the products. These companies recommend and encourage for greater consumption of the medicines produced or marketed by them. This is prominently because of generating higher market share and revenue from the market. This finally leads to the increase in the profitability of the organisations. However, over-consumption or usage of products of the pharmaceutical organisations is identified to have adverse side-effects to the consumers. The overuse of the products also leads to severe damage in the health of the consumers. Moreover, majority of the people that consumes pharmaceutical products in the US through the knowledge from DTCA do not opt for consultation with healthcare professionals. It is also important to note that the consumers do not use the sources as mentioned by the pharmaceutical companies in the advertisements. Several studies revealed that the number of consumers seeking knowledge from the sources as mentioned by the pharmaceutical companies is negligible in comparison to the number of sales of those products in the market of the US. It is observed that a very rare percentage of consumers contacts to the toll-free enquiry number as provided by the companies. Further, a minimum number of people attempt to access the websites of the pharmaceutical companies. Thus, it is observed that majority of the people of the US lack adequate and appropriate knowledge regarding the medication and usage of the pharmaceutical products. The lack of adequate and appropriate knowledge leads to the over-consumption or over usage of the pharmaceutical products, which significantly damages the health of the consumers. Patients Start Self Diagnosis. Based on the observation of Weissman (82 – 95), it is has been observed that with the onset of DTCA by the pharmaceutical companies in the US, majority of the patients are engaged in self-diagnosis of the disease they possess. It is also observe that the patients or the consumers are mostly engaged in the analysis of the disease that they possess and hence, consumes medicines according to their will. The prime reason behind this is the generation of a little amount of knowledge by the consumers after the promotional activities by the pharmaceutical companies. However, in reality, the level of knowledge is not adequate to self prescribe regarding the consumption of medicines. The patients or the consumers are more likely to be unaware of the several aspects regarding medication and the disease. Thus, self-prescription is more likely to be inappropriate way of consumption of the pharmaceutical products, as it significantly damages the health of a patient for factors relating to overdose and side-effects. In the US, self-prescription by the consumers leads to the generation of several other diseases that greatly damage the health of the patients. In addition, the patients are not cured through the consumption of medications through self-prescription. SUGGESTED REMEDIES Although there are several benefits of DCTA in pharmaceutical companies as observed in the US, but according to Liu and Doucette (89 – 93), there are certain major demerits associated with it that cannot be avoided. These major demerits significantly affect the society, as it leads to an unhealthy society. In this regard, certain recommendations or remedies are considered to lead a healthy society. One of such important recommendations is the strict following of the rules and regulations of FDA by the pharmaceutical companies. The strict following of the rules and regulations would lead to the elimination of the confusion among the consumers regarding the consumption of pharmaceutical products. The people would be more aware of the several diseases of the modern day and the advancement of medical technology related to several diseases. It also leads to the creation of healthy society in the US. According to Gilbody (246 – 250), besides following the rules and regulations of FDA by the pharmaceutical companies, it is also advisable that the consumers or the patients should also follow the rules of DTCA. In this regard, the consumers should follow the sources of the DTCA to obtain a comprehensive knowledge regarding the product. It is also advisable to the consumers that they should also consult with the FDA regarding the products of the pharmaceutical companies. They should grasp the opportunity of undertaking the support from the healthcare centres through the use of the websites and should also opt for consulting with healthcare professionals as organised by FDA. Moreover, it is advisable to the consumers that they should not self-prescribe regarding medication intake. The consumers should consult with the healthcare professionals regularly in order to lead a healthy life. As per the viewpoints of Koch-Laking (649 – 650), one of the major recommendations regarding healthcare in the US is that the pharmaceutical companies should provide sufficient importance to research and development process. It has been observed that majority of the pharmaceutical organisations in the US allocates a significant amount of budget for the promotion of the products. This is very high in comparison to the budget allocated to research and development process. It is advisable that the pharmaceutical companies that they should allocate higher budget for research and development to improve the quality of the product. The improvement of the quality of the pharmaceutical products would lead to a significant benefit to the consumer as well as the society as a whole. Further, measures should be undertaken to reduce or limit marketing operations to minimise cost of products. This would simultaneously lead to the reduction of price of the products and hence, would be of greater benefit to the consumers (Woloshin 1141-1146). EFFECT OF DTCA ON HEALTH INSURANCE According to Odih (55 – 105), the DTCA approach of the pharmaceutical companies of the US has a significant impact on the health insurance sector in the region. It has been observe that through the onset of DTCA, the price of health insurance has greatly reduced. The prime reason behind this is the cautiousness of the people of the US regarding health. DTCA has led to the improvement of health within the society in the US and thus, has greatly reduced the risk of the health insurance providers. The health insurance companies as a result of such are more confident in the business process and hence, the industry flourished. CONCLUSION From the study, it is asserted that DTCA is very popular in the US pharmaceutical industry. DTCA has facilitated in generating greater awareness among the people regarding several diseases. It has also assisted to increase the knowledge among the people regarding medication and importance of healthcare in the society. The people are able to have a comprehensive understanding about the medicines and side effects that are associated with the medicines. In this context, people are identified to possess adequate knowledge relating to healthcare products and diseases that are prevalent in the US society. However, there are certain issues that also evolved from the DTCA approach. DTCA has led to the increase in the price of the pharmaceutical products. It has also led to the generation of misleading approach by the companies that greatly affected the consumers in terms of health and side effects. In addition, the pharmaceutical companies are recognised to invest adequate funds towards promotional activities owing to which the prices of healthcare products have raised to a large extent. Nevertheless, the implementations of the rules by the FDA have greatly led to the reduction of these issues in DTCA. 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