Further Reading
Drudge, Matt, and Julia Phillips.Drudge Manifesto.
New York: New American Library, 2000.
Walls, Jeannette.Dish: How Gossip Became the News and
the News Became Just Another Show. New York: Avon
Books, 2000.
Arsenio Orteza
See also Abortion; Blogs; Cable television; Cen-
sorship; Clinton, Bill; Clinton’s impeachment; Clin-
ton’s scandals; Computers; E-mail; Internet; Jour-
nalism; Lewinsky scandal; Scandals; Search engines;
Talk radio.
Drug advertising
Definition Pharmaceutical advertising within the
United States
There was a substantial increase in direct-to-consumer ad-
vertising for both over-the-counter and prescription drugs
during the 1990’s. The decade also saw the first television
drug advertisements following a 1997 decision by the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration to soften regulations on
marketing prescription drugs. These broadcasts have been
far-reaching, leading to a debate as to whether their effect on
the doctor-patient relationship has been beneficial.
Pharmaceutical advertising is given strict regulatory
oversight by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA). The FDA’s primary responsibility is to ensure
that new medications are safe prior to being put on
the market. In 1962, an amendment to the Food,
Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938 clarified the FDA’s
mission as ensuring that drugs were both safe and ef-
fective. This new legislation mandated that drug-
makers list a summary of all of the drug’s effects and
possible risks on the label. This is known as the brief
summary. The strict requirement caused the phar-
maceutical industry to advertise primarily to physi-
cians prior to 1980. Because of time constraints, the
requirement prohibited any type of broadcasts on
network television. However, some direct-to-con-
sumer (DTC) advertisements began appearing in
magazines during the early 1980’s. In 1983, the FDA
requested a voluntary moratorium on such market-
ing, unsure as to its potential effects. The pharma-
ceutical industry complied with this request, and it
was eventually lifted in 1985.
Drug Advertising in the 1990’s While the morato-
rium had not been in place for several years, drug
advertisers did not resume print advertising until- A survey conducted by Marvin Moe Bell in the
Journal of Family Practiceshowed that the most com-
mon advertisements during the first eight years of
the decade were for conditions that included HIV/
AIDS, obstetric and gynecological, and dermato-
logical issues. Such print advertisements usually
took the form of descriptions of a new drug’s effec-
tiveness, symptom control, and the scientific innova-
tion behind the product.
During the mid-1990’s, a series of open hearings
were held on possibly easing advertising require-
ments for prescription pharmaceuticals. These
hearings led to the FDA releasing a new set of draft
guidelines that, among other things, did away with
the brief summary. Instead, commercials could
make a major statement that discussed only the most
common side effects of a medication. Consumers
would then be directed to alternative sources for
more detailed product information, such as a toll-
free number, a Web site, or another advertisement in
a specific magazine.
With new guidelines in place, it was now both pos-
sible (and practical) to advertise new medications
on television. Pharmaceutical companies began ad-
vertising almost immediately, and, by 1999 (when
the draft standards became finalized), drug advertis-
ing was quite prevalent. Such on-air advertising was
understandably expensive, and it was common for
pharmaceutical companies to be spending any-
where from $40 to $70 million annually on such ads.
Pfizer’s 1999 blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis medi-
cation Celebrex received significant screen time. By
the year 2000, there were advertisements for anti-
depressants, antihistamines, cholesterol-lowering
medications, and heartburn medications.
Effects of DTC Advertising Broadcast advertising
has been controversial since its inception. Many peo-
ple were concerned over how to balance consumer
needs and protection of the physician-patient rela-
tionship with the economics of the extremely com-
petitive pharmaceutical industry.
Proponents of DTC advertising argued that these
broadcasts empowered individual consumers by
alerting them to the existence of a medication, lead-
ing to more informed discussions with their doctors.
Even consumer advocates agreed that when a medi-274 Drug advertising The Nineties in America