title: Disease-specific direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceuticals: An examination of endorser type and gender effects on consumers' attitudes and behaviors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising is still a controversial topic for pharmaceutical manufacturers' and researchers, and while numerous studies have examined the DTC phenomenon, little research has examined the effect of gender, particularly gender of the endorser and consumer.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this research was to assess the impact of the endorser (celebrity vs. expert vs. non-celebrity) and gender - both gender of the endorser and gender of the consumer - on consumers' attitudes and behaviors in response to a print disease-specific direct-to-consumer advertisement.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using Qualtrics consumer panel, data were obtained for 514 US adults (age 18 years and above) who demonstrated at least minimal symptoms of depression and need for monitoring based on the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) score. Data were analyzed using a 3 (Endorser Type: Celebrity/Expert/Non-Celebrity) × 2 (Endorser Gender: Male/Female) × 2 (Consumer Gender: Male/Female) full factorial between subjects multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and necessary univariate analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Only the type of the endorser (celebrity vs. expert vs. non-celebrity) used in the ad had a significant main effect on the dependent variables. Further univariate analyses revealed that, of the several dependent variables, endorser type had a significant influence only on attitude towards the ad, attention paid to the ad, and endorser credibility, with gender being non-significant in all cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Expert endorser generated significantly more favorable levels of attitude towards the ad, and endorser credibility compared to the non-celebrity endorser. Celebrity endorser attracted more consumer attention towards the ad and generated favorable endorser credibility perceptions compared to the non-celebrity endorser. However, celebrity and expert endorsers did not significantly differ from each other on the abovementioned ad effectiveness variables. Lastly, endorser gender and consumer gender did not have a significant influence on ad effectiveness.
authors: Department of Clinical & Administrative Sciences, California Northstate University, College of Pharmacy, Elk Grove, CA 95757, USA.
authors: Nilesh S
authors: NS
authors: Bhutada
authors: Pharmacy Practice, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) - Georgia Campus, School of Pharmacy, 625 Old Peachtree Rd. NW, Suwanee, GA 30024, USA. Electronic address: brentro@pcom.edu.
authors: Brent L
authors: BL
authors: Rollins
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003258:Consumer Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003863:Depression / Q000188:drug therapy; D000067088:Direct-to-Consumer Advertising / Q000379:methods*; D004345:Drug Industry / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods; D005197:Famous Persons; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Celebrity endorsements; Direct-to-consumer advertising; Disease-specific advertising; Endorser effects; Gender effects; Pharmaceutical marketing