Presumed influence of endorser and fear appeal in DTC prescription drug advertising: Are they overpowering consumers' judgments?

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-1-2012

Subject Area

ARRAY(0x5649fa6f0730)

Abstract

As consumers are increasingly exposed to direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising, critics are concerned about frequent uses of emotional appeals and influential endorsers that may mislead consumers' judgments in favor of the advertised drug. To investigate this issue, we developed a set of hypotheses based on the marketing and consumer behavior literature and tested independent and interactive effects of fear appeal and endorser types (physician, peer, and no endorser) on consumers' cognitive and attitudinal responses to direct-to-consumer ads. Results from an experiment suggest that the endorser and fear appeal can influence consumers' evaluation of the ad message, but do not necessarily overpower their judgments regarding the drug. Findings on the interactive effects suggest that direct-to-consumer advertisers must give a careful consideration to the right match of an endorser type and an emotional appeal to avoid any negative unintended effects. Implications for future research and practices for direct-to-consumer advertising are discussed. © The Author(s) 2012.

Publication Title

Journal of Medical Marketing

Volume

12

Issue

4

First Page

247

Last Page

258

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1177/1745790412459878

ISSN

17457904

E-ISSN

17457912

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