Healthy Skepticism Library item: 11738

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Canadian Health Services Research Foundation.
Myth: Direct-to-consumer advertising is educational for patients
Myth Busters: A series of essays giving the research evidence behind Canadian health care debates 2007 Sep
http://www.chsrf.ca/mythbusters/pdf/myth27_e.pdf

Abstract:

Myth Busted December 2004
Busted Again September 2007

Turn on your TV set or open a magazine and it may seem that drug ads are everywhere. But the fact is, the rules governing prescription drug advertising in this country are far more restrictive than the direct-to-consumer ads allowed in the U.S. By law, Canadian advertisers are able to mention
only the drug name, price and quantity. In recent years, though, manufacturers have become increasingly creative with these rules, running so-called “reminder ads.” These ads promote only the drug’s name to consumers. However, instead of the product’s price and quantity, we hear Sinatra
songs, and alongside the brand names, the tagline, “ask your doctor.”i-iii The combined effect of these more creative ads in Canada and spillover advertising from American media is that some may believe that anything goes in drug advertising in this country…