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Pharmaceutical Advertising in New Zealand w/ Trishil Dahya: July 11, 2022

Pharmaceutical Advertising in New Zealand w/ Trishil Dahya: July 11, 2022

Pharmaceutical Advertising in New Zealand w/ Trishil Dahya: July 11, 2022 Pharmaceutical Advertising in New Zealand w/ Trishil Dahya: July 11, 2022, 36.66 MB
Monday, July 11, 2022

New Zealand and the United States are the only two countries in the world that allow pharmaceutical companies to advertise their products directly to consumers.

Until a couple of years ago, I was unaware of the ban on Pharmaceutical advertising outside of New Zealand and the US. Whenever the side effects of a particular ad popped up, despite not being the target audience for said drug, it always filled me with a sense of existential dread. New Zealand ads typically display side effects in small black text to the bottom of the screen and are never discussed by the advertiser, making it easy to miss.

This piece seeks to investigate how direct to consumer advertising works, and whether the practice should be banned in New Zealand.