Financial Inducements: Growth in DTC Magazine Advertisements

Abstract

Interest in pharmaceutical costs has heightened, as the phenomenon of financial inducements as promotional tools in Direct-to-consumer magazine advertising remains chiefly unexplored. The value of examining financial inducements has accelerated, providing the premise of this article. Employing content analysis of national consumer magazines, 213 DTC advertisements identified were compared to a sample three years later, revealing a reduction in ads to 97 in a similar magazine sample. While the total number of DTC ads has declined, the financial incentives have become prominent increasing from 42.2 percent of the DTC ads to 51.5 percent. The directed emphasis of copay amounts increased from 11.1 to 40.0 percent as opposed to previously merely mentioning possible “savings” which went down from 71.1 to 44 percent. Strategic opportunities and public policy implications are presented.

KEYWORDS:

• Direct-to-consumer advertising
• pharmaceuticals
• healthcare
• financial inducements
• content analysis