Television Advertising and Prescription Drugs

Television advertising has always played a large role in shaping the consumer market and instilling desire in the viewing public to conform to the latest trends. In the past commercials were relatively harmless, planting seeds of hunger during late night programming; or an ad for a toy or a sugar-laden cereal that made a child obnoxious with desperate pleas. Today the hot new product is prescription drugs and advertisers are presenting biased and sometimes misleading information in pursuit of larger profits. Exaggerated claims of effectiveness and limited information regarding risks are the blueprint for many prescription drug commercials. The decision to purchase a particular product or brand name is governed largely by these ads, contributing to a society of impulse shoppers. Pharmaceutical companies would like people to accept that indigestion, stress, tension and anxiety, previously thought of as passing irritations, are now recognized disorders treatable with prescription drugs. 

As with any other product manufacturer their marketing strategy is formulated to increase distribution and profits. Drug manufacturers are spending more on advertising every year and their earnings are increasing at a similar rate. In the 10-year period from 1990 to 2000 the pharmaceutical industry experienced a huge growth in profits due to a rise in consumer spending of nearly 300% (Chandra & Miller, 2005). The increase is due to the approval of marketing their product to the public and important motivation for consumers to bear in mind when contemplating treatment with a new drug. Excessive spending on advertising is partially responsible for inflated costs in other areas of healthcare. Consumers today are being urged to request generic medications when filling prescriptions as one way to combat the rising rates of health services.