TURNING CONSUMERS INTO “DOCTORS”: ANALYSIS OF TV DRUG ADVERTISEMENTS

An analysis of direct-to-consumer drug advertisments can help us understand some of the issues surrounding the rapidly rising health care costs and the concern that this type of advertising may be influencing effective or efficient care. Through a rhetorical analysis of DTCA pharmaceutical product advertisements, this study demonstrates how the persuasive effects of content and visual images may promote perceived health knowledge which could be having a significant effect on consumer behavior. By combining the rhetorical visual analysis developed by Sonja Foss and the rhetorical depiction analysis developed by Michael Osborn, this study will reveal the persuasive and emotional processes for promoting pharmaceuticals through rhetoric which utilizes metaphors of nature, health, education and beauty to influence and create perceived health knowledge; an effect that is contributing to a cultural shift in consumer behavior related to health care. These results emphasize how DTCA both exemplifies and shapes a consumer-driven health care system.