Big Pharma Sinks to Bottom of Barrel in Public Opinion Poll

In 2017, the pharmaceutical industry launched a flashy direct-to-consumer advertising campaign through television, radio, print and digital media in an attempt to overhaul the industry’s well-deserved dismal reputation.[1]

Unsurprisingly, Big Pharma’s self-promoting multi-million-dollar media campaign, called “GoBoldly,” has been a complete flop. In fact, results of a recent national public opinion poll by Gallup revealed that the pharmaceutical industry is now viewed more negatively than any other major industry in the U.S.

Since 2001, Gallup has conducted an annual public opinion poll of a random sample of U.S. adults that asked whether they had a negative, neutral or positive overall view of 25 major business sectors.[2] In the most recent poll, which was conducted August 1-14, 2019, 58% of adults surveyed had a negative view of the pharmaceutical industry, 15% had a neutral view and 27% had a positive view, which translates into an overall net score of negative 31.[3]

The 2019 score was the lowest rating for the pharmaceutical industry since Gallup first polled on views of industries in 2001.[4] The previous lowest overall rating for the pharmaceutical sector was negative 23 in both 2016 and 2018, and this sector was ranked second lowest ahead of only the federal government from 2016 to 2018.[5],[6] Moreover, Gallup noted that over the past two decades, few industries have been rated lower than negative 31 in the organization’s annual polls.[7] These include the federal government and oil and gas, real estate and automobile industries.

The only other industries that had an overall net negative score in the 2019 Gallup poll were the federal government (negative 27), health care industry (negative 10) and advertising and public relations industry (negative 1).[8] The industries with the best ratings were the restaurant, computer and grocery industries with net positive scores of 58, 50 and 43, respectively. Other notable industries were the oil and gas industry (net positive score of 3) and legal field (net positive score of 5).

Rampant price gouging across the entire industry undoubtedly is the leading reason why Big Pharma has merited its horrible image in the eyes of the American public. Americans are rightfully outraged about paying more for prescription drugs than citizens of any other developed country, as well as the yearly escalation of drug prices that far exceeds the rate of inflation.

Other factors warranting the pharmaceutical industry’s poor public standing include its long history of aggressively promoting opioids, which helped fuel the ongoing opioid crisis, and massive spending on Congressional lobbying to weaken the regulation of drugs.

It’s laughable that Big Pharma thought a slick advertising campaign could somehow gloss over its decades of price gouging and other appalling conduct.
 

References

[1] PhRMA. Press release: America’s biopharmaceutical companies launch groundbreaking, multi-year initiative heralding new era of medicine. January 23, 2017. https://www.phrma.org/press-release/america-s-biopharmaceutical-companies-launch-groundbreaking-multi-year-initiative-heralding-new-era-of-medicine. Accessed September 9, 2019.

[2] McCarthy J. Big pharma sinks to the bottom of U.S. industry rankings. Gallup. September 3, 2019. https://news.gallup.com/poll/266060/big-pharma-sinks-bottom-industry-rankings.aspx?version=print. Accessed September 9, 2019.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Saad L. Restaurants again voted most popular U.S. industry. Gallup. August 15, 2016. https://news.gallup.com/poll/194570/restaurants-again-voted-popular-industry.aspx. Accessed September 9, 2019.

[6] Saad L. U.S. business sectors gain or hold steady in public esteem. Gallup. August 17, 2017. https://news.gallup.com/poll/216284/business-sectors-gain-hold-steady-public-esteem.aspx. Accessed September 9, 2019.

[7] McCarthy J. Big pharma sinks to the bottom of U.S. industry rankings. Gallup. September 3, 2019. https://news.gallup.com/poll/266060/big-pharma-sinks-bottom-industry-rankings.aspx?version=print. Accessed September 9, 2019.

[8] Ibid.