http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoKSL8eBrW0
I want to do my final research paper as an analysis of television advertisements for prescription drugs that do not tell you what they are for. I want to determine the persuasive advantages and disadvantages of this advertising tactic, and it's overall effectiveness.
Since the paper is research based, the majority of my research will be on why this tactic is used. From the research I have done so far, I know that one of the major benefits of not listing the purpose of the drug is that the company does not have to list any major health risks related to taking the drug. The FDA has not required pharmaceutical companies to list all side effects since 1997, but still require that any major health risks be listed and that an 800 number is listed. Many companies can avoid having to do this by listing only the drug name, or the disease or illness the drug treats. I have to do more research on the kinds of regulations that Canada enforces for prescription drug ads.
The other major area I will research will be the effectiveness of these ads. How many people ask their doctors about a drug after seeing an ad like this? What percentage of these people might actually find the drug of benefit to them? These are the questions I seek to answer.
My goal is also to dissect the rhetorical function of the advertisements to determine the degree to which they are persuasive. I hope to determine how these ads strategically foster brand recognition by attaching positive associations to the brand rather than factual information. One of the products I will be looking at is the TV ad for Latisse that uses an attractive woman who simply announces, "I use Latisse." I have not been able to find this advertisement on YouTube, so I may have to record it to show it to the class.
For the multimedia portion of my presentation I plan on using a PowerPoint because this is the best medium for streaming shared videos. I will only show one advertisement because of time restraints. I may ask the class to discuss the Yasmin birth control advertisement above.
I really like your idea! I feel like you have a strong platform on where you want to take your argument. This has always been something at the back of my mind also, and especially with the birth control commercials, you can definitely strike up an argument about their persuasive strategies. It would be cool to bring in as many examples as you could to show the trends of marketing for pharmaceutical campaigning. Great job!
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting. While you're not at the point of an argument, you clearly understand where you want to go with this. I think you should be able to find a great deal of research on this topic and that it will be really interesting to see where your research takes you. Since you're looking at commercials, remember to consider the role of the announcer and the actors. How do they add to the viewer's decision to consult with his/her doctor about a specific drug?
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