Primary care physicians’ attitudes toward direct‐to‐consumer advertising of prescription drugs: still crazy after all these years

Abstract

Based upon a national random sample of primary care physicians, this study updates earlier investigations of direct‐to‐consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription pharmaceutical drugs, in light of the explosive growth of such advertising since the late 1990s. The attitudes of the majority of primary care physicians surveyed remain strongly negative, with particular concern about the overstatement of efficacy/exaggerated benefit claims and inadequate risk information. There is, however, a minority of primary care physicians who might be favorably disposed toward DTC prescription drug advertising, provided the pharmaceutical industry addresses the expressed concerns of the medical profession.

Citation

Paul, D.P., Handlin, A. and D’Auria Stanton, A. (2002), "Primary care physicians’ attitudes toward direct‐to‐consumer advertising of prescription drugs: still crazy after all these years", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 19 No. 7, pp. 564-574. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760210451393