Evaluating the Balance of Persuasive and Informative Content within Product-Specific Print Direct-to-Consumer Ads

Abstract

This study attempts to compare the prevalence of persuasive and informative appeals found in direct-to-consumer (DTC) ads of prescription drugs in consumer magazines. A content analysis of DTC ads in a stratified randomized sample of magazines published from 1995 to 2000 identified the use of 10 types of persuasive appeals and 12 types of informative appeals. The average ad employed the use of 6.24 informative appeals and 3.13 persuasive appeals. DTC ads in magazines with a predominately male readership were found to contain a greater number of persuasive appeals than ads in other magazines. While the products most frequently advertised were for chronic nonlife-threatening conditions, a panel of pharmacists evaluated the majority of these products as having a high degree of clinical usefulness. Despite significant differences in the prevalence of certain types of appeals among ads for different products, the balance of persuasive and informative appeals did not vary considerably among them. Ads for drugs judged to be more specious in clinical usefulness did not employ the use of additional persuasive appeals and were found to be just as informative as ads for other drugs.