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Drug Advertising
Ethics in Drug Advertising
The marketing through direct-to-consumer drug advertising is a controversial topic. The basis of the ethical reasoning related to this manner is what role the patient should have in their treatments. If patients have the ability to diagnose their own afflictions then such advertisements might offer practical insights to the range of treatments that are available to the patient. However, most individuals would be much better off following the advice of a medical professional than to be convinced by a promotional message that they might be suited for some form of pharmaceutical treatment. Yet drug advertising clearly works as the numbers of patients and prescription drug users dramatically increase with each marketing campaign. This analysis will consider the ethics involved with direct-to-consumer marketing from a few different angles.
Discussion
Most of the discussion about ethics and the social responsibility of marketers has been descriptive and focus on the way marketers behave or fail to behave (Robin & Reidenbach, 1987). There is a significant amount of space in which different opinions about the . Others feel like the information provided should be factual in nature and not make an emotional appeal to attempt to sway consumers to purchase their goods if they are not a potential beneficiary of the type of drug being marketed. Other feel that there should be no drug marketing whatsoever and the patients should work with their doctors to determine to appropriate treatment for their affliction and thus no direct marketing is necessary.
The deontological approach considers decisions based mainly on the duties of an individual and the rights of the other; this means that an individual's behavior or decisions can be considered wrong even if an acceptable outcome happens to manifest (Wodak, 2007). This approach considers intentions more important than whatever the outcome may be. Therefore if a marketer is set out to sell as many pharmaceuticals as possible, to even those who might not need to take them, then this is obviously problematic from the deontological approach. Although from the business side, the intention is to maximize sales and revenues and there is a responsibility to the company's investors and stakeholders to do so, there is a line crossed with direct…
Works Cited
Goertzel, T. (N.d.). An Introduction to Ethical Analysis. Retrieved from Rutgers: http://crab.rutgers.edu/~goertzel/ethicalanalysis.html
Robin, D., & Reidenbach, E. (1987). Social Responsibility, Ethics, and Marketing Strategy. Journal of Marketing, 44-58.
Wodak, A. (2007). Ethics and drug policy. Retrieved from Hanskoechler: http://hanskoechler.com/Wodak-Ethics_Drug_Policy.pdf
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