The Coalition for Healthcare Communication caused quite a ruckus when it filed a citizen petition on DTC, designed, it says, to make consumer advertising simpler and clearer, and to stimulate better dialogue between patients and physicians. The Coalition charges that, bound by current policy, advertisers' inability to predict how regulators will react to certain creative executions has spawned a swathe of bland DTC ads that "over-warn and under-inform". The solution, it says, is to simplify the message and reestablish distinctions between the consumer and the healthcare professional. And if every DTC ad carried the same message, it would lead to better prescribing decisions and enhance doctor/patient discussions.

Consumer advertising
Regulation
Coalitions