Article published In:
Argumentation and HealthEdited by Sara Rubinelli and Francisca Snoeck Henkemans
[Journal of Argumentation in Context 1:1] 2012
► pp. 81–96
Edited by Sara Rubinelli and Francisca Snoeck Henkemans
[Journal of Argumentation in Context 1:1] 2012
► pp. 81–96
Direct-to-consumer advertisements for prescription drugs as an argumentative activity type
With direct-to-consumer advertisements (DTCA), pharmaceutical companies can market their prescription drugs directly to consumers. In order to properly study the argumentative aspect of these advertisements from a pragma-dialectical perspective, it is necessary to characterize DTCA as an ‘argumentative activity type’. This characterization shows that in DTCA, the advertiser combines two genres of communicative activity: promotion and consultation. The use of promotion stems from the advertiser’s commercial objective of selling products, while the use of consultation is a result of the legal obligation to present a fair balance between arguments for and against the use of a drug.
Keywords: DTCA, Pragma-Dialectics, argumentative activity type, promotion, consultation
Cited by
Cited by 4 other publications
Bigi, Sarah
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Dahl, John Magnus R.
2015. Visual argumentation in political advertising. Journal of Argumentation in Context 4:3 ► pp. 286 ff.
Labrie, Nanon H.M.
2015. The Promise and Prospects of Argumentation for Public Health Communication. Journal of Public Health Research 4:1 ► pp. jphr.2015.547 ff.
[no author supplied]
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