“Drug-Ad Crackdown Rattle TV Executives,” titled a front cover story in today’s The Wall Street Journal. “Medication TV Ads Under Trump’s Lenses,” wrote VideoAge in its Wednesday’s e-Beat’s edition.
Two days later the WSJ pointed out that in 2024 the U.S. pharmaceutical industry invested $11 billion in advertising, of which over $9 billion went to television. However, the Journal also pointed out that the Trump administration stopped short of the worst-case scenario, like a complete moratorium on the ads.
Pharma ads are the third-biggest category for broadcast television, accounting for as much as 12 percent of total TV ad spending, with an even larger share in TV news programming.
While Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is trying to curb pharma ads, the drug industry’s lobbying group maintains that direct-to-consumer advertising is protected speech.
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