Objective: To describe the characteristics of advertising in Spanish medical journals and to analyze the advertising message in drug advertisements.
Methods: Six issues of 4 Spanish medical journals published in 2001 were reviewed to identify the number of advertisements and their characteristics. The journals selected were Atención Primaria, Anales Españoles de Pediatría, Medicina Clínica and Gaceta Sanitaria. The advertising message was analyzed by evaluating 5 factors: communication aim, sales argument, communication treatment, and use of text and image.
Results: 609 advertisements were found. Drug advertisements were the most numerous (69.9%). Advertising pressure was highest in Atención Primaria (36%), followed by Anales Españoles de Pediatría (22%), Medicina Clínica (12%) and Gaceta Sanitaria (4%). Of the 195 drug advertisements analyzed, the aim of the advertising message was mostly to present or remind readers of an existing product (70.8%). The sales argument was rational in 86.5%. The communication treatment was advertising in 72.6%. The text of the advertisement contained a headline in 82.4% or a slogan in 50.8%. The advertisement image was a photograph in 74.7% and the aim of the image was to present the product (48.7%), to promise a benefit (45.1%), or to argue its qualities (31.1%).
Conclusions: In the journals aimed at prescribing physicians advertising pressure was higher and advertisements were intercalated in article text. Advertising concerned already existing products, used rational arguments, and the communication treatment was advertising.