ABSTRACT

Us a communicatiorı and Information channel, journals and drug advertisements in them have a signifıcant role. However the regulation on drug advertisements may varv in coımtries due to the target groııp. Healthcare professionals, especially phvsicians and pharmacists are decision makers on drug-use in Turkey like in many other countries. İn this respect, drug advertisements in medical journals aim to give information on drııgs. Thus healthcare professionals can be more helpfıd for their patients if the advertisenıent contains scientific and ımbiased information. Because of these, the content of advertisements is important for public health. İn this stııdv, the content of advertisements in two local medical journals; İM. I Türkiye” and “Eczacı " were investigated bv using content analvsis. Us a result, freguently used messages in advertisements were on the effectiveness of drugs. Ho\vever, the lack of information about side effects, adverse effects and contraindications in drug advertisements were remarkable. Because of the missing points in drug advertisements’ content, it can be stated that messages in the advertisements may not be objective. İn the light of these fmdings both healthcare professionals and publishers of the journals shoııld be more careful and objective vvhile assessing drug advertisements in order to sen’e better for their patients.