Submitted by Cristiane Shirayama (cristiane.shirayama@fgv.br) on 2011-05-25T16:43:12Z No. of bitstreams: 1 61090100017.pdf: 1173276 bytes, checksum: cda7eb208e82169a3eb90adf64163258 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vera Lúcia Mourão(vera.mourao@fgv.br) on 2011-05-25T16:55:56Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 61090100017.pdf: 1173276 bytes, checksum: cda7eb208e82169a3eb90adf64163258 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vera Lúcia Mourão(vera.mourao@fgv.br) on 2011-05-25T16:58:29Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 61090100017.pdf: 1173276 bytes, checksum: cda7eb208e82169a3eb90adf64163258 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-25T17:23:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 61090100017.pdf: 1173276 bytes, checksum: cda7eb208e82169a3eb90adf64163258 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-07-07 / This thesis aims to evaluate whether humorous television commercials (TVCs) work for non-prescription drugs, known as “over-the-counter” (OTC). The construct humor in advertising is controversial since it involves complex and broad typology, and depends on the audience characteristics. Several studies within different product categories indicated that some consumer goods are better suited for humorous TVCs, while others, such as OTC drugs, may not take advantage from it. Paradoxically, drug announcers spend billions of dollars worldwide in humorous OTC ads. An experiment with real consumers was designed as between-and-within-subjects, to test three hypotheses. Sixty women were exposed to pairs of humorous and non-humorous TVCs, for each of the three drug categories (analgesics, vitamins, and laxatives). We used fictional brand names and real ads, and measured four dependant variables: attitude toward the advertising (AAD), attitude toward the brand (ABR), purchase intention (PI), and brand choice (BC), after subjects being exposed to manipulations of two independent variables: humorous vs. non-humorous TV commercials, for the drug categories. Conditional logit model confirmed that humor does not help to persuade respondents, whose choices, attitudes, and purchase intention were less favorable with humorous TVCs, in comparison to non-humorous executions. Future research is presented regarding marketing for pharmaceutical products.

The thesis brings a complex insight into the legal environment of the pharmaceutical and food supplement advertising. It focuses on the legal regulations in the branch with emphasis on decision making processes of the supervising and other relevant state bodies. Special attention is paid to the ability of the above mentioned authorities to enforce the powers given to them by the law and to their cooperation. The main goal of the thesis is to assess whether the contemporary adjudication on the two markets (pharmaceuticals and food supplements market) is transparent and close enough to ensure effective protection of the public and consumers. A very important aspect of the whole problem is also to find out whether the jurisdiction allocation among the authorities and the way the make use of their powers leads towards sufficient assurance of legal certainty and public priorities, that is to say consumer protection and public health.