Center for Culture, Organizations and Politics - Previously Affiliated

Prior to 1989 prescription drug manufacturers rarely used consumer advertising, spending less than $5 million between 1985 and 1988. The manufacturers’ reluctance was largely due to physicians, which bitterly opposed their use of consumer advertising. However, by 1996, a mere seven years later, the situation had reversed itself, as drug manufacturers spent over $790 million on the marketing, despite continued physician opposition. Over the course of those seven years physicians lost their influence vis-à-vis consumer advertising, and explaining why is the central goal of this paper. Towards that end I address four questions: (1) Why were physicians opposed to consumer advertising?; (2) Why did this opposition influence drug manufacturers prior to 1989?; (3) Why did the opposition cease to deter the drug manufacturers in the 1990’s?; (4) How did drug manufacturers work to overcome physician opposition? In the end I will argue that physician influence was diminished by two factors: 1) the Managed Care revolution circumscribed physician prescribing authority, which, in turn, weakened their influence over the drug industry, and 2) drug manufacturers studied physician opposition, which enabled them to deploy the ads in a way that was less likely to provoke physicians. Moreover, this work will contribute to the market sociology literature.