For those of us who have grown up hearing “Lipitor is not for women for who are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant”, “Ask your doctor if Lyrica is right for you”, or “Astrazeneca may be able to help” the idea of prescription drugs being advertised directly to consumers seems like a social norm. It turns out however, that only one other country in the world allows this consumer centric drug marketing (Prescription...).
Perhaps the remaining countries, who have banned direct to consumer advertising (DTC), see that there is an evident contradiction between consumers’ perceptions of prescription drug ads and drug companies’ true intent behind them. A study found that a staggering 76% of viewers found these drug advertisements to be educational and believed that the “betterment of the consumer” was the primary purpose of these ads (Pharmaceutical...), while in reality, the primary motivation for all for profit industries, pharmaceuticals included, is to as stated in the name, generate as much profit as possible.
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This aggressive advertising is not an issue until the type of product is taken into consideration. Excessive advertising, and in turn increased purchasing of cars and clothing do not show any detrimental effects on consumers’ health, and thus is not very closely monitored. However, advertisements for products that could adversely affect the consumers’ well being, such as alcoholic beverages, are much more stringently regulated. For example, the Federal Alcohol Association controls when and on what channels ads for alcohol can be aired (Alcoholic Beverages...). So why is it that the ads of prescription drugs, which could also have negative effects, are not nearly as