Project description:Background. Previous research found that adding a single piece of quantitative information about prescription drug benefits to direct-to-consumer (DTC) ads helps consumers understand how well the drug works. However, drug information often includes quantitative information on multiple benefit outcomes and risks. Thus, we examined whether consumer understanding was similarly improved when DTC television ads include varying amounts of quantitative information. Methods. We randomly assigned participants (945 Internet panelists ≥ 60 years old) to view 1 of 9 fictitious prescription drug television ads that varied the presentation of quantitative information for benefits (none, single outcome, 2 outcomes) and risks (none, 1 risk category, 3 risk categories) and then measured gist and verbatim recall/estimation and drug perceptions. Results. Adding a single benefit outcome and a single risk category replicated past results. Compared with an ad containing no quantitative information, presenting 2 benefit outcomes and multiple risk categories increased gist and verbatim recall and affected drug perceptions. Compared with presenting a single benefit outcome, presenting 2 benefit outcomes increased verbatim recall for the second outcome but decreased verbatim recall for the first outcome. Likewise, compared with presenting a single risk category, presenting multiple risk categories increased gist and verbatim recall for the multiple risk categories but decreased gist recall for a concept more closely associated with the single risk category. Adding multiple risk categories decreased risk perceptions even more than did the single risk category. Limitations. This study may have limited generalizability because it examined an ad for only 1 medical condition. Conclusions. There are tradeoffs to adding multiple quantitative benefit outcomes in DTC ads. However, presenting multiple quantitative risk categories helps consumers better understand a drug's risks.

Project description:Background: Direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug advertisements are thought to induce "boomerang effects," meaning they reduce the perceived effectiveness of a potential alternative option: non-pharmaceutical treatment via lifestyle change. Past research has observed such effects using artificially created, text-only advertisements that may not adequate capture the complex, conflicting portrayal of lifestyle change in real television advertisements. In other risk domains, individual "problem status" often moderates boomerang effects, such that subjects who currently engage in the risky behavior exhibit the strongest boomerang effects. Objectives: We aimed to assess whether priming with real DTC television advertisements elicited boomerang effects on perceptions of lifestyle change and whether these effects, if present, were moderated by individual problem status. Methods: We assembled a sample of real, previously aired DTC television advertisements in order to naturalistically capture the portrayal of lifestyle change in real advertisements. We randomized 819 adults in the United States recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk to view or not view an advertisement for a prescription drug. We further randomized subjects to judge either lifestyle change or drugs on three measures: general effectiveness, disease severity for a hypothetical patient, and personal intention to use the intervention if diagnosed with the target health condition. Results: Advertisement exposure induced a statistically significant, but weak, boomerang effect on general effectiveness (p = 0.01, partial R2 = 0.007) and did not affect disease severity score (p = 0.32, partial R2 = 0.0009). Advertisement exposure elicited a reverse boomerang effect of similar effect size on personal intentions, such that advertisement-exposed subjects reported comparatively higher intentions to use lifestyle change relative to drugs (p = 0.006, partial R2 = 0.008). Individual problem status did not significantly moderate these effects. Conclusion: In contrast to previous literature finding large boomerang effects using artificial advertisement stimuli, real television advertisements elicited only a weak boomerang effect on perceived effectiveness and elicited an unexpected reverse boomerang effect on personal intentions to use lifestyle change versus drugs. These findings may reflect real advertisements' induction of descriptive norms and self-efficacy; future research could address such possibilities by systematically manipulating advertisement content.

Project description:Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription drugs can be both beneficial and harmful to healthcare consumers. Therefore, DTCA for prescription drugs is a topic that should be considered crucially, at this point, when the interests of patients as well as pharmaceutical companies in DTCA of prescription drugs are growing in South Korea. The goals of this study were to investigate Korean college students' perceptions and attitudes about DTCA of prescription drugs through a survey as well as to analyze data according to their college majors in order to identify differences in their perceptions and attitudes about prescription drug DTCAs as future health care professionals and consumers, respectively. A descriptive, cross-sectional survey was conducted between September and November 2015. Participants were recruited from Chosun University in Gwangju, South Korea. Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the Chosun University Institutional Review Board. Of 1,040 questionnaires initially distributed, 774 were collected, and 742 were included in the analysis. The results of this study indicated that most students who had participated in the survey did not have sufficient knowledge of DTCA for prescription drugs. Approximately, 17% reported being cognizant of DTCA for prescription drugs. More healthcare students (24.6%) knew this term than non-healthcare students did (6.3%). In this study, most of the students were likely to feel that healthcare professionals (e.g., doctors and pharmacists) had the responsibility of delivering information about prescription drugs to patients, and that all prescription drugs DTCA, if it were permitted, had to be pre-approved by the Korean government. The results of this study indicated that DTCA for prescription drugs had to be permitted under the condition of pre-approval of the DTCA contents by the Korean government, and prescription drugs should not be advertised through the Internet. It is recommended that the Korean government cautiously examine whether DTCA of prescription drugs should be permitted, after considering the current marketing strategies of pharmaceutical companies on the Internet and the effects of online electronic-DTCA on Korean consumers.

Project description:The current direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) guidelines were developed with print, television, and radio media in mind, and there are no specific guidelines for online banner advertisements.This study evaluates how well Internet banner ads comply with existing Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines for DTCA in other media.A content analysis was performed of 68 banner advertisements. A coding sheet was developed based on (1) FDA guidance documents for consumer-directed prescription drug advertisements and (2) previous DTCA content analyses. Specifically, the presence of a brief summary detailing the drug's risks and side effects or of a "major statement" identifying the drug's major risks, and the number and type of provisions made available to consumers for comprehensive information about the drug were coded. In addition, the criterion of "fair balance," the FDA's requirement that prescription drug ads balance information relating to the drug's risks with information relating to its benefits, was measured by numbering the benefit and risk facts identified in the ads and by examining the presentation of risk and benefit information.Every ad in the sample included a brief summary of risk information and at least one form of adequate provision as required by the FDA for broadcast ads that do not give audiences a brief summary of a drug's risks. No ads included a major statement. There were approximately 7.18 risk facts for every benefit fact. Most of the risks (98.85%, 1292/1307) were presented in the scroll portion of the ad, whereas most of the benefits (66.5%, 121/182) were presented in the main part of the ad. Out of 1307 risk facts, 1292 were qualitative and 15 were quantitative. Out of 182 benefit facts, 181 were qualitative and 1 was quantitative. The majority of ads showed neutral images during the disclosure of benefit and risk facts. Only 9% (6/68) of the ads displayed positive images and none displayed negative images when presenting risks facts. When benefit facts were being presented, 7% (5/68) showed only positive images. No ads showed negative images when the benefit facts were being presented.In the face of ambiguous regulatory guidelines for online banner promotion, drug companies appear to make an attempt to adapt to regulatory guidelines designed for traditional media. However, banner ads use various techniques of presentation to present the advertised drug in the best possible light. The FDA should formalize requirements that drug companies provide a brief summary and include multiple forms of adequate provision in banner ads.

Project description:Most visual advertisements are designed to attract attention, often by inducing a pleasant impression in human observers. Accordingly, results from brain imaging studies show that advertisements can activate the brain's reward circuitry, which is also involved in the perception of other visually pleasing images, such as artworks. At the image level, large subsets of artworks are characterized by specific statistical image properties, such as a high self-similarity and intermediate complexity. Moreover, some image properties are distributed uniformly across orientations in the artworks (low anisotropy). In the present study, we asked whether images of advertisements share these properties. To answer this question, subsets of different types of advertisements (single-product print advertisements, supermarket and department store leaflets, magazine covers and show windows) were analyzed using computer vision algorithms and compared to other types of images (photographs of simple objects, faces, large-vista natural scenes and branches). We show that, on average, images of advertisements and artworks share a similar degree of complexity (fractal dimension) and self-similarity, as well as similarities in the Fourier spectrum. However, images of advertisements are more anisotropic than artworks. Values for single-product advertisements resemble each other, independent of the type of product promoted (cars, cosmetics, fashion or other products). For comparison, we studied images of architecture as another type of visually pleasing stimuli and obtained comparable results. These findings support the general idea that, on average, man-made visually pleasing images are characterized by specific patterns of higher-order (global) image properties that distinguish them from other types of images. Whether these properties are necessary or sufficient to induce aesthetic perception and how they correlate with brain activation upon viewing advertisements remains to be investigated.

Project description:Simple Summary Numerous studies have evaluated the human personal genomics industry, though research has largely overlooked consumer use of these tests for companion animals. This is surprising considering the domestic dog and cat genomes were sequenced shortly after the completion of the human genome and the first genetic test became available for dogs in 2007. As a novel area of research, this study draws on a previous analysis of companion animal genetic company website and consumer review data. The theoretical framework builds on human–animal studies and research into human self-use of personal genomic services. Our objectives were to evaluate consumer (1) motivations for having their dog genetically tested, (2) perceptions of the returned results and services, and (3) responses to their dog’s results. Results showed that dog guardians are motivated to use these services to learn their dog’s breed composition, perceive the results as accurate, and respond by sharing their dog’s results with family and friends. Using these results and the presented framework, future research is positioned to evaluate how consumers may selectively incorporate genetic test results into their relationship with their dog. Abstract Direct-to-consumer genetic services allow companion animal guardians to purchase a DNA test and receive detailed results about their pet’s ancestry, health, and traits results. In collaboration with Wisdom Panel, we present novel findings about consumer motivations, perceptions, and responses to their use of canine genomic services. Wisdom Panel customers were invited to complete an online survey anonymously in which they were asked about their reasons for using a genetic test for their dog, how they perceived the test’s results, and how they responded to the results they received. Participant data revealed most utilized a test that provided more ancestry/breed results (75.9%) as compared to health-related results. The majority of participants perceived the breed test results as accurate (52.0% strongly agree, 27.6% somewhat agree) and the genetic services provided as having great value (49.6% strongly agree, 32.7% somewhat agreed). In responding to their dog’s results, participants indicated they shared the information with family (88.1%) and friends (84.2%). Collectively, our study indicates consumers are more focused on their dog’s ancestry than other test results. Using these findings and previous literature on human direct-to-consumer genetic testing, human–animal dyads, and identity construction, we consider the possibility of “breed options theory” and future areas of research.

Dataset Information

Consumer Perceptions of Safety Information in Direct-to-Consumer Print Advertisements for Alzheimer Drugs.

Publications

Consumer Perceptions of Safety Information in Direct-to-Consumer Print Advertisements for Alzheimer Drugs.

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