It is weird to think that someone could be watching the nine o’clock news with a commercial break that includes ads for Green Giant canned corn, new pills that claim to shed fat, and a sale happening right now at Kohls. What is weird about that normal situation is that the person pays no mind to the suspicious drug ad allowed to be sandwiched into the broadcast by a major television station. This weird thing is shockingly normal to Americans. Modern culture is so accustomed to pharmaceutical ads that no one notices how prevalent yet scary they are. Well, this practice is only normal to Americans, because the United States is only one of two countries on Earth that allow pharmaceuticals to be directly advertised to consumers (the other country is New Zealand) (Hiltzik). Even with 99% of world powers standing against the use of direct to consumer pharmaceutical advertising, the issue is still debated with proponents of the practice using multiple arguments to support their cause.
One claim made by supporters of direct to consumer pharmaceutical advertisements (which will often be referred to as DTCPA from now on) is that the ads help fight rampant underdiagnosis of conditions. Per Frank Auton of the University of Westminster, underdiagnosis is a widespread issue among Americans. He states that roughly one …show more content…
Lee Ventola states that many doctors are against DTCPA because it causes patients to come in set on one specific drug, leaving the doctors with lengthy and tedious job of convincing the patients that they do not need that drug. The time wasted fighting a patient results in backing up the doctor’s schedule and delaying his other patients’ appointments. Ventola also claims that DTCPA influences a patient’s trust for their doctor, as they question the doctor’s knowledge versus what the patient learned in the advertisement
One claim made by supporters of direct to consumer pharmaceutical advertisements (which will often be referred to as DTCPA from now on) is that the ads help fight rampant underdiagnosis of conditions. Per Frank Auton of the University of Westminster, underdiagnosis is a widespread issue among Americans. He states that roughly one …show more content…
Lee Ventola states that many doctors are against DTCPA because it causes patients to come in set on one specific drug, leaving the doctors with lengthy and tedious job of convincing the patients that they do not need that drug. The time wasted fighting a patient results in backing up the doctor’s schedule and delaying his other patients’ appointments. Ventola also claims that DTCPA influences a patient’s trust for their doctor, as they question the doctor’s knowledge versus what the patient learned in the advertisement