Pharmaceutical advertising on child-focused television networks in Russia: is there a need for change?

Aim. To assess the prevalence of pharmaceutical advertising on the Russian federal television channels dedicated to children and youth.

Material and methods. This paper is part of a study on the marketing of food and drink to children on television (TV) and the Internet. In the period from March to May 2017, television broadcasts of the 5 most popular TV channels dedicated to children and youth under the age of 16 (Carousel, Disney, STS, TNT, Friday!) were recorded for 20 days. The advertisement was encoded and entered into a database provided by the Regional Office for Europe of the World Health Organization as part of the study protocol. Drugs were classified as “prohibited for use by children and youth”, “allowed with minimum age requirements” and “allowed”. Statistical processing was performed using the STATA statistical software.

Results. On TV channels, pharmaceutical advertising takes the second place in terms of demonstration frequency (17%); on Disney and Friday! channels it even exceeded the most popular category — food advertising. During the advertising there was information about the need for a medical consultation. The prevalence of drug advertising was several times higher compared to dietary supplements and vitamins. We also revealed that 9% of all advertised drugs are not allowed for use by persons <18 years of age. However, it should be noted that some of these drugs are specifically designed for children. Approximately 50% of all demonstrated medications have age restrictions and less than half are allowed for administration by persons <18 years of age.

Conclusion. Currently, advertising of over-the-counter drugs is allowed on Russian TV channels. However, on channels dedicated to children and youth, drug advertising is one of the most frequently demonstrated types of advertising, second only to food. At the same time, only 40% of all advertised pharmaceuticals do not have age restrictions, and approximately 10% are not allowed for persons <18 years of age.

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