According to a new survey by Treato.com, nearly 30 percent of consumers have been prompted into action by direct to consumer (DTC) advertising for an Rx (prescription) medication.  As healthcare marketers gather in Washington DC for this week’s DTC National conference, Treato released the results of its online survey regarding consumer attitudes on pharmaceutical advertising.  In an effort to promote the voice of patients and caregivers, Treato gathers big data from billions of online conversations and uses analytics to translate them into meaningful insights.  

 

Treato conducted the online survey of visitors to its site.  Of the 475 respondents:

 

30 percent have either spoken to a doctor about specific medications or recommended that friends or family do the same, as the result of watching or reading an ad.

When asked about the conditions treated by top Rx advertisers, Viagra and Cialis (erectile dysfunction) scored highest for recognition of symptoms treated, at 90 percent and 80 percent respectively, while Humira (arthritis) scored lowest at 47 percent.

77 percent of respondents would prefer that erectile dysfunction ads either run after 9 PM, or not run at all.

In further results, consumer verbatim comments regarding Rx advertising included the following:

 

” The doctor needs to suggest your meds not you”

“Extremely bad to self-diagnose a condition and request medication”

“Learning all the side effects of the medicine is a turn-off”

“Makes me feel like everyone is going to DIE that takes these prescriptions!!”

“Very embarrassing when they come on TV and you are with your children or company! It should be stopped immediately. I know “a lot” of people who feel the same.”

“The voice of today’s health consumer is ever more critical to major pharmaceutical companies, especially given the volume of DTC advertising they are investing in,” explained Ido Hadari, CEO of Treato.  “By uncovering what they are thinking and what they are experiencing, we are committed to making the patients’ voice a respected component of healthcare decisions.”

 

Source: Treato