The modality of direct-to-consumer advertisements for prescription drugs affects thoughts of risk and drug distrust

Abstract

The effect of the modality (audio-visual vs. audio-only vs. text) of direct-to-consumer advertisements for prescription drugs on consumers’ thoughts of risk and drug distrust was tested in a between-subjects experiment (N = 397). Consumers’ thoughts of risk were lower when they viewed a television DTC advertisement compared with reading the advertisement’s transcript. Further, distrust of the drug was lower after viewing the advertisement or listening to the advertisement’s audio track, compared with reading the transcript. Because the television advertisements produced fewer thoughts of risk and reduced drug distrust, the FDA should establish guidelines for television advertisements to ensure that consumers adequately perceive the risk associated with prescription drugs. Rather than merely communicating risk information, pharmaceutical marketers should demonstrate that prospective consumers understand drug risks. This approach moves the FDA guidelines’ emphasis from risk communication to risk comprehension. Further research on modality effects is warranted.

Keywords:

• Advertisements
• Consumer Behavior
• Direct-To-Consumer Advertising
• Risk Communication

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The internal consistency was lower than desired, but in the interest of comparability with other studies that use the measure, the scale was not modified. Further, removing any one of the items did not improve the scale’s internal consistency.

2. The authors are grateful to an anonymous reviewer for this suggestion.