Table 2.
Proportion of Advertisements That Present Factual Claims, Appeals, Lifestyle, and Medication Themes
| Weighted Percentages | |||
| Categories of Content | All Ads | Product Claim Ads | Reminder Ads |
| Factual claims* | |||
| Any factual information (eg, symptoms) | – | 82.0 | – |
| Biological nature or mechanism of disease | – | 53.9 | – |
| Risk factors or cause of condition | – | 25.8 | – |
| Prevalence of condition | – | 24.7 | – |
| Subpopulation at risk of the condition | 7.9 | ||
| Appeals | |||
| Rational | 86.4 | 100.0 | 0.0 |
| Positive emotional | 95.1 | 94.4 | 100.0 |
| Negative emotional | 68.9 | 75.3 | 28.6 |
| Humor | 32.0 | 36.0 | 7.1 |
| Fantasy | 20.4 | 22.5 | 7.1 |
| Sex | 5.8 | 4.5 | 14.3 |
| Nostalgia | 3.9 | 3.4 | 7.1 |
| Lifestyle portrayals | |||
| Condition interferes with healthy or recreational activities | 26.2 | 30.3 | 0.0 |
| Product enables healthy or recreational activities | 56.3 | 56.2 | 57.1 |
| Lifestyle change is alternative to product use | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Lifestyle change is insufficient | 18.4 | 21.3 | 0.0 |
| Lifestyle change is adjunct to product | 19.4 | 22.5 | 0.0 |
| Medication portrayals | |||
| Loss of control caused by condition | 58.3 | 67.4 | 0.0 |
| Regaining control as result of product use | 85.4 | 88.8 | 64.3 |
| Social approval as a result of product use | 77.7 | 83.1 | 42.9 |
| Distress caused by condition | 47.6 | 53.9 | 7.1 |
| Breakthrough | 58.3 | 67.4 | 0.0 |
| Endurance increased as a result of product use | 17.5 | 12.4 | 50.0 |
| Protection as a result of product use | 9.7 | 11.2 | 0.0 |
Note: Total unweighted N = 38, product claim ads n = 31, reminder ads n = 7.
* The Food and Drug Administration does not permit the presentation of factual information in reminder ads.