HEALTH-RELATED MESSAGES IN CONSUMER MAGAZINE ADVERTISING

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the patterns of health-related messages in consumer advertising from U.S, magazines. DESIGN: Observational survey of advertisements occupying a third of a page or more from the Januar y 1994 issues of the 11 most popular consumer magazines. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Health messages were present in 22.8% (85/372) of al l the advertisements reviewed, of the advertisement categories (prescr iption medication, over-the-counter medication, exercise-related produ ct, health service, health device, diet/health-related food, and other ), over-the-counter medications were the most common among the adverti sements that had health messages (32.9%, 28/85) (7.5% of the total adv ertisements, 28/372), The five advertisements for prescription medicat ions were duplications of tare different advertisements, one for a hai r promotion product and one for hormone replacement therapy. Products related to diet and exercise together represented 29.4% (25/85) of all advertisements with health messages, Three advertisements (3.5%) were for health devices, and five (5.9%) were for health services. CONCLUS IONS: Health-related messages are frequent in consumer advertising. Th e effects of health marketing on consumer protection, health care cost s, and the physician-patient relationship are discussed.