Dive Brief:
- Not helping the pharmaceutical industry’s public perception is pending Congressional legislation that would ban the now ubiquitous direct-to-consumer (DTC) ads.
- The U.S. and New Zealand are the only two countries that allow DTC ads for prescription drugs, a category that spent $4.9 billion in the U.S. in 2014, according to Kantar Media.
- As the pharma industry attempts to build its reputation back up in Washington, Adweek reports that the biggest losers if a ban on DTC ads does go through would be TV and print magazines, which have seen the bulk of DTC ad spending in the past.
Dive Insight:
Drug ad spending in TV and print surged in 2015, with TV accounting for $2.6 billion and magazines $1.1 billion during the third quarter. However, the drug industry has a reputation problem, which could help propel a ban on DTC ads.
John Mack, publisher and editor of Pharma Marketing News, told Adweek, "The tobacco industry and the oil industry are probably the only two industries who have worse reputations than the pharmaceutical industry."
Mack added that, "There's no advertising on TV for the tobacco industry anymore, so I could see why there are calls to ban TV advertising for prescription drugs."
The industry took a very public hit when then Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli unrepentantly faced questions from the media, and then Congress, after arbitrarily raising the price of a cancer and AIDS drug 5,000%. The move sparked an internet meme about having one of the "most punchable faces," and at least for a time became the public personification of the pharma industry overall.
About the potential end of DTC ads, Dan Jaffe, executive vice president of government relations for the Asoociation of National Advertisers, told Marketing Dive last fall that DTC ads serve specifically to inform the public about "potentially life-saving and life-enhancing measures," and "if this information is only disseminated through doctors, lots of people aren't going to hear about it. Not everyone goes to see the doctor."