Drug Companies Use ‘Subtle’ Approach in Online Advertising
The pharmaceutical industry is increasingly turning to online marketing -- a seemingly "natural fit" -- but in more subtle ways than their direct-to-consumer television ads, the Wall Street Journal reports. The industry is taking a less aggressive online approach for several reasons. First, online marketing "dovetails nicely" with current television advertising campaigns. Additionally, in 1997, the FDA permitted drug makers to run ads on television without offering information on all side effects as long as the commercials offered consumers a magazine or toll-free number to receive further information. Now prescription drug commercials are directing consumers to various Web sites. Also, drug companies are wary of consumers' reactions to direct advertising on the Internet. While more people are accessing health information online, the research firm Jupiter Media Metrix Inc. found that only 11% of consumers said they would trust information from a pharmaceutical company's Web site. Therefore, many drug companies are teaming up with "third-party" health sites such as WebMD or drkoop.com to provide "content on diseases" in exchange for banner ads and links to company sites, which give them "an appearance of neutrality that ads can't provide."
Meanwhile, some companies are choosing not to rely on other sites, instead building their own "soft sell" Web sites, which provide information about certain medical conditions without mentioning potential treatments. For example, Merck & Co. is trying such an approach, running a television ad about hair loss and directing consumers to thinhair.com for more information. Neither the ad nor the Web site mentions Merck or Propecia, the company's hair-loss treatment, but a banner ad on the site directs people who are looking for more information to Propecia.com. The Journal reports that because the site appears to be independent, consumers have more confidence in the information. In addition, without displaying the treatment's name, drug companies can avoid the FDA's rules about providing information on side effects.
Physicians and consumer advocates have expressed concerns about this type of advertising. Larry Sasich, a pharmaceutical expert for the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, said that such sites are "dangerous" because the "line between science and promotion has been blurred." Richard Roberts, president of the American Association of Family Physicians, said, "Making people aware of conditions is potentially a good," but only if it does not "promot[e] inappropriate or unnecessary services." Merck said that its site educates consumers about potential treatments. In addition, the company voluntarily places its logo on the site to let consumers know the source of the information (Frangos, Wall Street Journal, 4/23).
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