"Gender equality policy aspects" - "... and ask your doctor or pharmacist.": Well-known advertising slogan is changed
For decades, this sentence has been part of every drug advertisement - and has long since become a familiar phrase: "Read the package leaflet for information on risks and side effects and ask your doctor or pharmacist." From December 27, advertisers and consumers will have to get used to a new way of thinking, as the advertising message will be changed.
Last June, the Bundestag decided to amend the Therapeutic Products Advertising Act, which prescribes the passage for drug advertising outside specialist circles. In future, the statement will read:"Please read the package leaflet for information on risks and side effects and ask your doctor or pharmacist."
New information in drug advertising motivated by equality policy
The first pharmaceutical companies have already started to change their advertising spots accordingly during the transition period. The new wording was criticized from several sides during the legislative process. The German Pharmaceutical Industry Association, for example, considered the new sentence construction to be "unwieldy".
In the draft bill from February, the Federal Ministry of Health justified the change by stating that it was intended to "take account of gender equality policy aspects".
The origin of the reference lies in the 1990s, reports the "Pharmazeutische Zeitung". At that time, the intention was to ban advertising for medicines in general. It was then stipulated that all mandatory information from the package leaflets also had to be presented in the advertising - hardly feasible in a commercial. The discussions ended with the sentence. "For risks and side effects, read the package leaflet and ask your doctor or pharmacist." It remained in this form for almost 34 years.
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The change in the drug advertisement phrase is part of Germany's efforts to consider 'gender equality policy aspects'. Despite criticisms, pharmaceutical companies are adjusting their advertising to include the new sentence structure. In the future, advertisements will urge consumers to "please read the package leaflet for information on risks and side effects and ask your doctor or pharmacist." This shift in language arrives following the Bundestag's decision to amend the Therapeutic Products Advertising Act. In the upcoming 'future', drug advertisements will focus more on emphasizing potential side effects.
Source: www.stern.de
