Brent L. Rollins

Behavioral Intentions and Information-Seeking Behavior: A Comparison of Nonbranded versus Branded Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Advertisements

A recent trend in DTC advertising has been the increasing presence of nonbranded, or help-seeking, ads. These ads make no mention of a branded medication, using only the pharmaceutical manufacturer as an identifier. Though these ads have been around since the inception of DTC, no direct comparison to the branded counterpart has been conducted in the literature. An online survey panel was used to examine the effects of these two DTC ad types, branded and nonbranded, on behavioral intentions. Whether these self-reported measures of intent correlated to a predefined information-seeking behavior was also analyzed. Results showed that subjects who either viewed the nonbranded ad or had a high level of disease state involvement had more positive behavioral intentions. Overall, intent did not correlate to the predefined behavior. However, those with higher behavioral intentions performed the behavior significantly more. Non-branded ads induced greater behavioral intentions, which could lead to more physician discussions and increased information-seeking behavior. Given DTCs goal of increasing physician interaction, these results suggest non-branded ads can be a viable and very productive part of the marketing mix.

Nonbranded or Branded Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertising-Which is More Effective?

Recently, pharmaceutical manufacturers have increased the amount of nonbranded, disease-education focused, direct-to-consumer advertisements. A comparison to branded, product-specific, ads was examined through a series of survey questions measuring consumer attitudes and the role of involvement. Nonbranded ads compared favorably to branded ads and should remain a viable part of the marketing mix. Consumers’ level of disease state involvement was the strongest determinant of attitudes overall and within the two ad groupings, as highly involved consumers had significantly more positives attitudes regarding the nonbranded ads. Regardless of involvement level, however, nonbranded ads maintained positive attitude levels.

Impact of celebrity endorsements in disease-specific direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertisements

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects on consumer response between disease-specific advertising containing a celebrity compared to a non-celebrity endorser. Design/methodology/approach – A randomized, cross-sectional two (endorser type) by two (levels of disease state involvement) factorial design was used. Respondents (over the age of 18) were randomly shown one of the ad types and then responded to an online survey questionnaire containing questions and various scales measuring disease state involvement, endorser credibility, attitude toward the ad and company, attention to the ad, behavioral intentions and information search behavior. The disease-specific ad stimuli modeled the form of current print direct-to-consumer ads and were created following recent Food and Drug Administration guidelines, with the only difference being the specific pictorial used (celebrity versus non-celebrity). Findings – While endorser type did not significantly affect consumer attitudes, behavioral in...

A Pharmacy Business Management Simulation Exercise as a Practical Application of Business Management Material and Principles

Objective. To implement a pharmacy business management simulation exercise as a practical application of business management material and principles and assess students’ perceived value. Design. As part of a pharmacy management and administration course, students made various calculations and management decisions in the global categories of hours of operation, inventory, pricing, and personnel. The students entered the data into simulation software and a realistic community pharmacy marketplace was modeled. Course topics included accounting, economics, finance, human resources, management, marketing, and leadership. Assessment. An 18-item posttest survey was administered. Students’ slightly to moderately agreed the pharmacy simulation program enhanced their knowledge and understanding, particularly of inventory management, cash flow statements, balance sheets, and income statements. Overall attitudes toward the pharmacy simulation program were also slightly positive and students also slightly agreed the pharmacy simulation program enhanced their learning of pharmacy business management. Inventory management was the only area in which students felt they had at least “some” exposure to the assessed business management topics during IPPEs/internship, while all other areas of experience ranged from “not at all” to “a little.” Conclusion. The pharmacy simulation program is an effective active-learning exercise and enhanced students’ knowledge and understanding of the business management topics covered.

Evaluating Consumer Understanding of Two Patient Instructions for Use Inserts Provided by Manufacturers

In addition to the approved package inserts, manufacturers of certain prescription drug products provide approved patient instructions for use inserts to increase patients’ understanding of their medication, aid in its use, and improve compliance. However, the extent to which consumers understand and use the information provided in these inserts is not known. The purpose of this study was to assess these patient instructions for use in inserts supplied in addition to the normal package inserts from the manufacturer. Ohio consumers between the ages of 18 and 70 were randomly selected for inclusion. Two diverse patient instructions for use from the same product class, Flonase and Nasonex, were evaluated in the study. Sixty-three consumers completed and returned the self-administered questionnaire, which contained 47 questions and used a Likert-type scale with 1 = strongly disagree to 6 = strongly agree. After data analysis was completed, it was found the inserts were not too complex, and were viewed as educational and a reliable source of drug information. Also, consumers felt very confident that they could use the products correctly. In conclusion, these inserts appear to be well understoud, informative, educational, and a useful source of drug information.

Impact of Animated Spokes-Characters in Print Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertising: An Elaboration Likelihood Model Approach

ABSTRACT A randomized, posttest-only online survey study of adult U.S. consumers determined the advertising effectiveness (attitude toward ad, brand, company, spokes-characters, attention paid to the ad, drug inquiry intention, and perceived product risk) of animated spokes-characters in print direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription drugs and the moderating effects of consumers’ involvement. Consumers’ responses (n = 490) were recorded for animated versus nonanimated (human) spokes-characters in a fictitious DTC ad. Guided by the elaboration likelihood model, data were analyzed using a 2 (spokes-character type: animated/human) × 2 (involvement: high/low) factorial multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). The MANCOVA indicated significant main effects of spokes-character type and involvement on the dependent variables after controlling for covariate effects. Of the several ad effectiveness variables, consumers only differed on their attitude toward the spokes-characters between the two spokes-character types (specifically, more favorable attitudes toward the human spokes-character). Apart from perceived product risk, high-involvement consumers reacted more favorably to the remaining ad effectiveness variables compared to the low-involvement consumers, and exhibited significantly stronger drug inquiry intentions during their next doctor visit. Further, the moderating effect of consumers’ involvement was not observed (nonsignificant interaction effect between spokes-character type and involvement).

Still the Great Debate – 'Fair Balance' in Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertising; Comment on 'Trouble Spots in Online Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Promotion: A Content Analysis of FDA Warning Letters'

The above titled paper examined the Food and Drug Administrations (FDAs) warning letters and notice of violations (NOV) over a 10-year period. Findings from this content analysis reinforced what has been the primary issue for prescription direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) since its beginning, the fair balance of risk and benefit information. As opposed to another analysis in 2026 about this still being an issue, is there anything that can be done to prevent this problem from continuing?