Lifestyles are risky, too: the social construction of risk and empowerment in prescription drug direct-to-consumer advertisements

Abstract

In this article, we examine the portrayal of non-drug related health risks and patient empowerment messages in prescription drug advertising. Little is known about the social construction of non-drug related risks in direct-to-consumer advertisements. In addition, research has failed to investigate to what extent, and how, prescription drug ads use risk messages to construct understandings of empowered medicated patients. To fill these gaps in research, we conducted a content analysis of 136 US prescription drug advertisements that aired on television from 2014–2015. Drawing on the reflexive modernisation framework, we find that ads go beyond disclosing the risks associated with taking the promoted drug by emphasising the risks associated with not taking the prescribed drug. Ads empower patients in two distinct ways, through ‘health empowerment’ and ‘lifestyle empowerment’. These forms of empowerment are portrayed as natural responses to health and lifestyle risks. We also describe two types of ads: medical need and lifestyle ads. The former emphasises health empowerment, and the latter exhibits strong themes of lifestyle empowerment. We extend the findings of previous research by pinpointing how drug companies use risk messages as a strategy to motivate, rather than deter, audiences to learn more about a promoted treatment and by identifying the different marketing strategies used in prescription drug ads based on the lifestyle status of a drug. Our research provides a clearer understanding of the relationship between the presentation of health risks and reflexive modernisation, patient empowerment, and health lifestyles in the risk society.