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- Title
Journalism as Health Education: Media Coverage of a Nonbranded Pharma Web Site.
- Authors
Michael Mackert; Brad Love; Avery E. Holton
- Abstract
AbstractObjective:As healthcare consumers increasingly use the Internet as a source for health information, direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug advertising online merits additional attention. The purpose of this research was to investigate media coverage of the joint marketing program linking the movieHappy Feet and the nonbranded disease education Web site FluFacts—a resource from Tamiflu flu treatment manufacturer Roche Laboratories Inc.Materials and Methods:Twenty-nine articles (n= 29) were found covering theHappy Feet–FluFacts marketing campaign. A coding guide was developed to assess elements of the articles, including those common in the sample and information that ideally would be included in these articles. Two coders independently coded the articles, achieving intercoder agreement ofκ= 0.98 before resolving disagreements to arrive at a final dataset.Results:The majority of articles reported that Roche operated FluFacts (51.7%) and mentioned the product Tamiflu (58.6%). Almost half (48.3%) reported FluFacts was an educational resource; yet, no articles mentioned other antiviral medications or nonmedical options for preventing the flu. Almost a quarter of the articles (24.1%) provided a call to action—telling readers to visit FluFacts or providing a link for them to do so.Conclusions:Findings suggest that journalists' coverage of this novel campaign—likely one of the goals of the campaign—helped spread the message of theHappy Feet–FluFacts relationship, often omitting other useful health information. Additional research is needed to better understand online DTC campaigns and how consumers react to these campaigns and resulting media coverage and to inform the policymakers' decisions regarding DTC advertising online.
- Subjects
HEALTH education; JOURNALISM &; education; MEDICAL informatics; WEBSITES; DIRECT-to-consumer prescription drug advertising; ANTIVIRAL agents; MASS media; PHARMACEUTICAL industry
- Publication
Telemedicine & e-Health, 2011, Vol 17, Issue 2, p88
- ISSN
1530-5627
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1089/tmj.2010.0127