Melting the fat away: an analysis of the advertising market for weight-loss products

The rise in the prevalence of overweight and obesity has reached record levels and has gained national attention with respect to public health initiatives. The race to develop a pharmaceutical product that can help individuals lose weight has resulted in the release of several fatal products that have been withdrawn. Meanwhile, the growth of direct to consumer advertising has grown dramatically greatly increasing the autonomy of patients. This paper analyzed the extent to which firms? respond to the market conditions and research regarding drug advertising. A unique dataset of print advertisements collected from 26 popular magazines and 2 medical journals was analyzed to assess the textual and visual cues of weight-loss advertisements. Analyses reveal a concentration of both prescription and over-the-counter advertisements in select magazines varying depending on the target audience. The targeting of certain populations was further displayed through the systematic differences in the use of effectiveness and risk information. This paper provides insight into the textual and visual cues used to increase demand and profits of the pharmaceutical firms marketing weight-loss product