Sex, drugs, and direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical ads

Angelini, James R.,In medical care and diagnoses, there is a clear divide and demonstrable bias in the way that men and women are prescribed medications and in how they are cared for. Women’s heart health issues go under diagnosed, while men have their mental health issues overlooked. This study aims to determine whether the biases present in medical settings are apparent in medically related prescription drug advertisements as well. A content analysis was performed to examine this phenomenon. A sample of 360 magazines were examined, with 24 issues of 15 magazines across 3 categories, based upon the publication’s target audience (men’s, women’s and general interest), making up the sample. After a total of 1,262 direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertisements were coded out of 14,740 total advertisements, a notable pattern was uncovered. This study showed a significant bias in regards to which magazines were selected to market DTC prescription drugs, as well as in the sex of characters used to market such drugs. These trends may lead to the continuation of biased diagnoses and care of men and women in the medical field. And while further research is required to determine the impacts of these biases, it is clear that these are present in DTC prescription drug advertising.University of Delaware, Department of CommunicationM.A