ANALYSIS OF ADVERTISING OF MEDICATION IN OPEN TV FOR THE FEDERAL DISTRICT AND THE SURROUNDING CITIES

Abstract

Advertising is a legitimate tool and not a problem if the commercial objectives do not exceed the ethical limits. Advertisements for medicines in Brazil were already produced since 1911 and promoted the sale of pharmaceuticals close to explicitly. However, medicines are special products whose advertisements require special care regarding the ethical and moral. To investigate and quantify what are the offenses committed in medicines advertisements published in Open TV for the general public of the Federal District and the surrounding cities, called “Surrounding Region”, a descriptive, observational, cross-sectional study was carried on. Therefore, 56 advertisements were monitored at 14h daily schedule, from March, 2012 to March 2013. The legal analysis was done under the aegis of Anvisa Board Resolution RDC. 96/2008. The results showed that 100% from analysed advertisements presented violations of law. On average were infringed four articles of RDC by presentation and in total there were seven ignored articles of Health Legislation. Consistent with the literature, analgesics, cold medicine, anti-inflammatory and antacids were the most publicized. The absence of information on the care/warnings in use, characterized the medicine as completely safe and effective, which creates health risks of irresponsible self-medication, which is an important public health problem.