Disease Awareness and Prescription Drug Communications on Television: Evidence for Conflation and Misleading Product Impressions

ABSTRACT

We conducted two experiments that tested for conflation of fictitious disease awareness and prescription drug promotional communications in a television advertising context and whether similarity, proximity, and number of exposures to the disease awareness communication contributed to this conflation. Study 1 involved a 1-h television segment, and Study 2 used a longitudinal design with participants exposed to communications over time. The promoted product was indicated to treat asthma. Participants (Study 1, n = 2190; Study 2, n = 1621) were adults who had experienced asthma or asthma symptoms. In Study 1, mere exposure to disease awareness communication prompted benefit and risk conflation, but the degree of similarity or proximity did not have an effect. In Study 2, similar ads prompted greater conflation of benefits than distinct ads, and greater conflation of risks occurred with greater proximity to disease awareness and promotional communications. In addition, asthma knowledge, health literacy, and perceived ad effectiveness increased conflation of benefits in both studies but tended not to modify the impact of similarity or proximity. The findings demonstrate the potential for disease awareness communications to confuse consumers regarding the benefits and risks of a drug.

Disclosure statement

This article reflects the view of the authors and should not be construed to represent FDA’s view or policies. The research presented in this article was granted an exemption by FDA’s Institutional Review Board.

Notes

1. In January 2004, FDA published a draft guidance for industry titled “Help-Seeking” and Other Disease Awareness Communications by or on Behalf of Drug and Device Firms. FDA subsequently conducted a review of its published guidances, and this 2004 draft guidance as well as other FDA guidance documents were withdrawn in April 2015 because the guidances required significant updates or no longer reflected FDA’s current thinking.

Additional information

Funding

Funding was provided by the Office of Prescription Drug Promotion, Office of Medical Policy, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration.