ABSTRACT
Over-the-counter advertisements appear in professional journals for pharmacists as well as in magazines for the lay public. The purpose of this study was to examine characteristics of these ads and to determine the attitudes of community pharmacists and pharmacy students toward OTC advertising. Ads appearing in six journals were evaluated using an objective scale developed by the study authors. Nine ads were chosen for evaluation by the study group. Although 96% of the ads possessed a medium to high quantity of information, there were serious omissions affecting the quality of the information. Pharmacists and students held negative attitudes toward OTC ads and agreed on their purpose except for two ads (p < 0.001 and p < 0.05).