Pharmaceutical Ads Mix Information With Emotion

June 2, 2000

Erie, Pa. -- Direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical advertising of prescription drugs, expenditures for which approach $1 billion, appear in every category of magazine and employ a mix of information and emotional appeals, a Penn State researcher says.

"Of the emotional appeals used, the largest percentage of ads used fear appeals," says Dr. Mary Beth Pinto, assistant professor of marketing at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. "My study indicated no discernable pattern in use of appeals by drug category.

"Pharmaceutical companies spent $40 million on media advertising for direct-to-consumer prescription drugs in 1989. By 1995, this amount has risen to $350 million, for the first time matching the industry's spending on advertising to physicians and other professionals," says Pinto. "Total direct-to-consumer advertising revenues have recently topped $1.5 billion."

Direct-to-consumer drug advertising will likely continue to increase at a rapid pace, and in fact, is projected to be the fastest growing major advertising category, surpassing even technology, fast food and soft drink marketers, Pinto adds.

The Penn State researcher published her findings in the paper, "On the Nature and Properties of Appeals Used in Direct-to-Consumer Pharmaceutical Advertising," in the April issue of the journal, Psychological Reports.

"My analysis of 84 pharmaceutical ads in 24 popular magazines over a two-year period show that these ads adhered strictly to Pure Food and Drug Administration guidelines requiring them to spell out appropriate usage, possible side effects and so on," notes Pinto. "At the same time, however, they used a variety of emotional cues to capture the reader's attention.

"In evaluating the magazine ads by pharmaceutical companies, 43 percent of the emotional appeals were classified as appeals to fear and 31 percent as attempts to evoke humor," she says. "Thirty percent of the advertisements emphasized relationships, frequently involving children. An example would be that of a mother hugging her daughter in an advertisement for a drug treatment for bed-wetting."

Only 8.6 percent of the magazine ads sought to influence the reader through appeals to guilt and another 8.6 percent through the use of sexual innuendoes.

"Drug advertisements for certain chronic medical conditions -- such as hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol -- often contained a fear appeal, suggesting that, because these conditions are potentially life-threatening, they must be actively treated. Otherwise, there seemed to be no correlation between the type of appeal and the type of drug advertised. Furthermore, even within the same magazine categories, the number and kind of drug advertisements varied considerably," Pinto says.

Pinto's study drew its sample of publications from popular magazines published between March 1996 and March 1998. Within each of the 12 magazine classification categories (e.g. sports, health and fitness), the two magazines with the largest circulation were selected. Her judges were asked to determine whether the advertiser had intentionally used an emotional appeal (humor, sex, fear, guilt).

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Contacts:

Paul Blaum (814) 865-9481 (o)

Vicki Fong (814) 865-9481 (o)/ (814) 238-1221 (h)

EDITORS: Dr. Pinto is at by email.