I work for an advertising agency whose niche is hospital communications. Not surprising, my company (and I) would argue that healthcare marketing not only drives patient volume but can be beneficial in educating the community.
I do recognize, though, that there are also risks associated with sharing health-related information with the general consumer, and they center around the phrase, “ask your doctor.”
Advertisements for prescription drugs tout the wonders of modern medicine. They show happy, carefree people (ahem, actors) enjoying life more now than they did before due to use of a particular drug. Oh yeah, and it may have a few (or nineteen) possible side effects.
Drug reps are benefiting from direct to consumer advertising, as prescription drug revenues are soaring to never before seen heights. Not surprisingly, exposure to drug ads leads to increased requests for prescription medications. However, this can be a danger to the consumer because ad messages can be manipulative.
How? The call-to-action invites people to present that drug as an option to their doctor “just to see” if prescription X is right for them. At that point, that drug is the most current in the physician’s mind, so the prescription is written and the happy (for the time being) patient goes on their merry way. But was it the right solution?
The well-known health Web side, WebMD.com, also encourages the “ask your doctor” phenomenon. WebMD provides users with the (alarming) opportunity to basically self-diagnose, by simply entering each of the symptoms they’re experiencing and then providing a quick, computer-generated solve.
In fact, many people go into the doctor these days just to get the script. They walk in and say, “I have [insert symptoms], which means I have [insert ailment], and I would like a prescription for [insert drug]…please.”
No doubt, this level of access to health information online (and its pervasion in the mass media) is frightening in its influence on consumers.
As always, please feel free peruse and provide feedback anywhere possible. If you like what you see…*send to a friend.
