ABSTRACT
The comparison of direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) between the United States and New Zealand hinges on two basic concerns: economic and social. The economic concerns are foremost in the minds of the corporate executives of pharmaceutical companies who see DTCA as a way to generate demand and increase sales for high-stakes, prescription-only pharmaceutical products. In the US, this has taken the form of an increase in DTCA in 1988 (US$25 million) to 1999 (US$3.6 billion). In New Zealand, DTCA increased 41.7 percent from 1999 (NZ$28 million) to 2000 (NZ$48 million) (Association of New Zealand Advertisers, ACNielsen, Hunter Research as reported in Direct to-Consumer Advertising of Prescription Medicines in New Zealand: A Discussion Paper, 2000).
