Thank You for Advertising

Posted by admin in Health Care on Aug 16th, 2007 | no responses

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Looks like there's another reason to love direct-to-consumer drug ads (besides, of course, Antonio Banderas' highly-entertaining turn as the Nasonex Bee).

The Wall Street Journal's Health Blog reported Monday that some direct-to-consumer drug ads may spur people to change their health behavior for the better, even if they never buy what the drug companies are selling. A Cornell study compared magazine advertising data with the reading habits of smokers and found that the more magazine ads smokers saw for the nicotine patch and other quit-smoking aids, the more likely they were to try to quit smoking and be successful — even without buying the products.

The study's co-author noted that these results may also apply to other types of pharmaceutical advertising. For example, when patients discuss with their physicians an advertised drug that lowers cholesterol, physicians will often recommend such health behavior changes as diet and exercise, creating a positive spillover effect from the advertising.

Hopefully, this good news about DTC drug ads will stop overzealous legislators from regulating pharmaceutical advertising or marketing. During the 2007 session, 27 states introduced legislation to do just that.

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