History of Direct to Consumer Advertising via NPR

Selling Sickness: How Drug Ads Changed Health Care : NPR:

But then, in 1986, while designing an ad for a new allergy medication called Seldane, Davis hit on a way around the fine print. He checked with the Food and Drug Administration to see if it would be OK.

'We didn't give the drug's name, Seldane,' he says. 'All we said was: 'Your doctor now has treatment which won't make you drowsy. See your doctor.' '

This was one of the very first national direct-to-consumer television ad campaigns. The results were nothing short of astounding. Before the ads, Davis says, Seldane made about $34 million in sales a year, which at the time was considered pretty good.

'Our goal was maybe to get this drug up to $100 million in sales. But we went through $100 million,' Davis says. 'And we said, 'Holy smokes.' And then it went through $300 million. Then $400 million. Then $500 million. $600 [million]! It was unbelievable. We were flabbergasted. And eventually it went to $800 million.'

Thought I'd posted this before, but better late than never.

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