The influence of advertising on the purchase of pharmaceutical products

Abstract

The size of the pharmaceutical market and pharmaceutical sales is increasing constantly. The market is flooded with new drugs and preparations. There is an increasing amount of advertising (e.g. television and print) for these medicaments. This paper analyses the relationship between (1) advertisement awareness and the purchase of medicaments and (2) noticing advertising leaflets in a pharmacy and the purchase of medicaments. Five groups of drugs are monitored, namely vitamins and minerals, immunity support medicines, painkillers, pharmaceutical cosmetics and medicines to support the nervous system. Analysis is carried out using logistic regression methods to determine the odds ratio of purchase and purchase probability. The coefficients are estimated using the maxi-mum likelihood method. The contribution involves listing those pharmaceutical products whose purchase is influenced by advertising. We found relationships between purchase and advertisement awareness (print and television) for vitamins and minerals, painkillers and pharmaceutical cosmetics, and relationships between purchase and the perception of leaflets for vitamins and minerals, pharmaceutical cosmetics and immunity sup-port medicines.