What's your favourite TV commercial? For me, it’s the one in which the hero overcomes all sorts of challenges “all because the lady loves Milk Tray”.
But what about the advertising of drugs, not chocolate? When it comes to marketing prescription medicines, New Zealand and the US differ from the rest of the world. They allow direct to consumer (DTC) advertising. By 1999, the average American was exposed to nine prescription drug commercials on TV a day.
A decision by the European Parliament last year to add print media to a European Commission proposal banning the advertising of prescription medicines on TV, radio and the internet suggests we won’t be seeing or reading any such ads in the foreseeable future. Encouraged by MEPs, including Nessa Childers, the legislators’ decision should ensure that only accurate, independent and unbiased health information is made available to patients.
Source: Muiris Houston, The Irish Times, 02/03/2011
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