Healthy Skepticism Library item: 17594

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: Journal Article

Kim K, Seong Park J
Message framing and the effectiveness of DTC advertising: The moderating role of subjective product knowledge
Journal of Medical Marketing 2010 Mar 26; 10:(2):165–176
http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jmm/journal/v10/n2/abs/jmm20104a.html

Abstract:

While consumer judgments and decisions regarding the use of prescription medicine emerge through multiple layers of influence, the current study focused on the effects of specific persuasive appeals strategically placed in direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising. This study revealed a loss-framed DTC advertisement, with focus on the costs of not taking a prescription drug, had more impact on college students’ attitudes toward an emergency contraception medicine and intentions to seek further information about it, consult a health professional to discuss it, and intentions to use it. For the category of allergy medicine, gain- and loss-framed DTC ads were equivalent in their effectiveness. The study also revealed the interactive effects of message framing and drug category on drug use intentions were mediated by attitudes, information search intentions, and consultation intentions. We concluded by discussing the findings’ implications for the practice of DTC advertising.

Keywords:
direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising; framing; prospect theory; health cognition and behavior