(In)Sanity for Sale

How does direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs (DTCA) work in the US (based on the example of psychopharmacological drugs)?

I'm passionate about a series of topics which might seem not very intertwined. Marketing, media, sociology, anthropology, culturology, psychology, arts and more recently mental health and psychiatry. Yet, here’s something which connects these all seemingly distanced dots…

Here’s a treat for you – I introduce a collection of psychiatric drug advertising (from '60 to 2000). Before you dive into this little library below and start to admire the creativity or cringe at it, I’d like to share a couple of words on the charming world of prescription drug (psychiatric drugs included) marketing...

Non-OTC is a tough cookie in terms of advertising around the world. Almost all over the world, any form of DTCA (direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs) is forbidden. Packages contain only names, contents, and warnings; we learn about the drugs from health professionals, family, friends and the Internet. No room for driving sales other than convincing doctors to sell whatever you want them to sell.

However, the US and New Zealand are an exception here. In fact, they’re the only countries in the world, where advertising of prescription drugs is allowed. In the US, the FDA approves advertisements for prescription drugs and only promotes them for medical uses that have been evaluated and approved by the agency (in addition, the ads must present a balance between the benefits and risks). In the States alone, the drug industry spends a fair coin on advertising. In 1996, the ad spending reached $550 million, that number increased more than 10 times by 2020, reaching $6.58 billion annually. According to WARC, the pharma industry is the 6th in terms of ad spend in the US.

Praiseworthy or not (which IS very disputable and it’s not my point to assess this here), this law enabled an outburst of creativity in pursuit of convincing (often seriously suffering) consumers to use their product. This required the marketers to try to understand and put the patients’ shoes on.

Psychiatric drug advertising is something very different but, in a way, very similar to selling happiness as Coke does... There’s more to it though, more than selling happiness, most of them try to sell lack of suffering, relief and peace of mind. How to market that? How to show compassion, tact and gentleness while marketing that? It does not sound easy, doesn’t it?

Now, to the point! What do you think about these ads? Do you have any favourite ones?

Sources:

• the american gallery of psychiatric art., Sanity for Sale: 1960-2000, https://www.geocities.ws/cgkarma/artindex.html?fbclid=IwAR3cUVzlZqxzLGLZ7gyVK1OmxkX-vjDauOgPTgiVtDwWrO2FJPD4KwV3qBY
• A History of Drug Advertising: The Evolving Roles of Consumers and Consumer Protection, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2690298/
• Effects of Direct-to-Consumer Advertising on Patient Prescription Requests and Physician Prescribing: A Systematic Review of Psychiatry-Relevant Studies, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5293137/
• Should the Government Restrict Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertising?? Six Takeaways on their Effects, https://healthpolicy.usc.edu/article/should-the-government-restrict-direct-to-consumer-prescription-drug-advertising-six-takeaways-from-research-on-the-effects-of-prescription-drug-advertising/#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20and%20New%20Zealand,pharmaceutical%20companies%20on%20drugs%20ads.
• A Perilous Prescription: The Dangers of Unregulated Drug Ads, https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2023/the-dangers-of-unregulated-drug-ads#:~:text=TM%3A%20The%20FDA%20drug%20advertising,between%20the%20benefits%20and%20risks.
• Understanding Prescription Drug Advertising, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK574520/
• The Impact of Advertising Psychiatric Drugs, https://neurosciencenews.com/advertising-psychopharmacology-5033/