IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v68y2022i2p866-882.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How Do Restrictions on Advertising Affect Consumer Search?

Author

Listed:
  • Lesley Chiou

    (Economics Department, Occidental College, Los Angeles, California 90041)

  • Catherine E. Tucker

    (MIT Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142)

Abstract

Advertising is often criticized for presenting only partial or selective information about products. This criticism is particularly pronounced for health products, where large asymmetries in information may exist between consumers and firms. This paper explores how government restrictions designed to prevent selective advertising affect the types of information to which consumers are exposed. We exploit a natural experiment in the form of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) crackdown that prevented pharmaceutical companies from using selectively chosen information in their Internet search ads. Because companies could not adequately document side effects within the advertising space allowed, they removed their ads. Our results suggest that, after the ads were removed, consumers were more likely to seek information from websites based on user-generated content or websites that focused on medical treatments not regulated by the FDA, such as Canadian pharmacies and sites promoting herbal remedies.

Suggested Citation

  • Lesley Chiou & Catherine E. Tucker, 2022. "How Do Restrictions on Advertising Affect Consumer Search?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(2), pages 866-882, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:68:y:2022:i:2:p:866-882
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2021.3980
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.3980
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mnsc.2021.3980?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Randall Lewis & David Reiley, 2014. "Online ads and offline sales: measuring the effect of retail advertising via a controlled experiment on Yahoo!," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 235-266, September.
    2. Nelson Jon P., 2003. "Cigarette Demand, Structural Change, and Advertising Bans: International Evidence, 1970-1995," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 2(1), pages 1-27, August.
    3. Yam B. Limbu & Christopher McKinley & Valerio Temperini, 2019. "A Longitudinal Examination of FDA Warning and Untitled Letters Issued to Pharmaceutical Companies for Violations in Drug Promotion Standards," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1), pages 3-23, March.
    4. Matthew Gentzkow & Jesse M. Shapiro, 2011. "Ideological Segregation Online and Offline," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(4), pages 1799-1839.
    5. Alan L. Montgomery & Shibo Li & Kannan Srinivasan & John C. Liechty, 2004. "Modeling Online Browsing and Path Analysis Using Clickstream Data," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(4), pages 579-595, November.
    6. Lesley Chiou & Catherine Tucker, 2018. "Fake News and Advertising on Social Media: A Study of the Anti-Vaccination Movement," NBER Working Papers 25223, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Thomas Blake & Chris Nosko & Steven Tadelis, 2015. "Consumer Heterogeneity and Paid Search Effectiveness: A Large‐Scale Field Experiment," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 83, pages 155-174, January.
    8. Stefan Bechtold & Catherine Tucker, 2014. "Trademarks, Triggers, and Online Search," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(4), pages 718-750, December.
    9. Babur De Los Santos & Ali Hortacsu & Matthijs R. Wildenbeest, 2012. "Testing Models of Consumer Search Using Data on Web Browsing and Purchasing Behavior," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(6), pages 2955-2980, October.
    10. Toshiaki Iizuka & Ginger Zhe Jin, 2005. "The Effect of Prescription Drug Advertising on Doctor Visits," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(3), pages 701-727, September.
    11. Guy David & Sara Markowitz & Seth Richards-Shubik, 2010. "The Effects of Pharmaceutical Marketing and Promotion on Adverse Drug Events and Regulation," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 2(4), pages 1-25, November.
    12. Sha Yang & Anindya Ghose, 2010. "Analyzing the Relationship Between Organic and Sponsored Search Advertising: Positive, Negative, or Zero Interdependence?," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(4), pages 602-623, 07-08.
    13. Saffer, Henry & Chaloupka, Frank, 2000. "The effect of tobacco advertising bans on tobacco consumption," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 1117-1137, November.
    14. John E. Calfee & Clifford Winston & Randolph Stempski, 2002. "Direct-to-Consumer Advertising and the Demand for Cholesterol-Reducing Drugs," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 45(S2), pages 673-690.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lesley Chiou & Catherine Tucker, 2018. "Fake News and Advertising on Social Media: A Study of the Anti-Vaccination Movement," NBER Working Papers 25223, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Dhaval M. Dave, 2013. "Effects of Pharmaceutical Promotion: A Review and Assessment," NBER Working Papers 18830, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Kirthi Kalyanam & John McAteer & Jonathan Marek & James Hodges & Lifeng Lin, 2018. "Cross channel effects of search engine advertising on brick & mortar retail sales: Meta analysis of large scale field experiments on Google.com," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 1-42, March.
    4. Lesley Chiou & Catherine Tucker, 2017. "Content aggregation by platforms: The case of the news media," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 782-805, December.
    5. Michael R. Baye & Babur De los Santos & Matthijs R. Wildenbeest, 2016. "Search Engine Optimization: What Drives Organic Traffic to Retail Sites?," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 6-31, March.
    6. Andrey Simonov & Shawndra Hill, 2021. "Competitive Advertising on Brand Search: Traffic Stealing and Click Quality," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(5), pages 923-945, September.
    7. Guy David & Sara Markowitz, 2011. "Side Effects of Competition: the Role of Advertising and Promotion in Pharmaceutical Markets," NBER Working Papers 17162, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Navdeep Sahni, 2015. "Effect of temporal spacing between advertising exposures: Evidence from online field experiments," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 203-247, September.
    9. Randall Lewis & Dan Nguyen, 2015. "Display advertising’s competitive spillovers to consumer search," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 93-115, June.
    10. Jacob LaRiviere & Mikolaj Czajkowski & Nick Hanley & Katherine Simpson, 2016. "What is the Causal Impact of Knowledge on Preferences in Stated Preference Studies?," Working Papers 2016-12, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    11. Blecher, Evan, 2015. "Taxes on tobacco, alcohol and sugar sweetened beverages: Linkages and lessons learned," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 136, pages 175-179.
    12. Kris J. Ferreira & Sunanda Parthasarathy & Shreyas Sekar, 2022. "Learning to Rank an Assortment of Products," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(3), pages 1828-1848, March.
    13. Sviták, Jan & Tichem, Jan & Haasbeek, Stefan, 2021. "Price effects of search advertising restrictions," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    14. Patricia M. Danzon & Eric L. Keuffel, 2014. "Regulation of the Pharmaceutical-Biotechnology Industry," NBER Chapters, in: Economic Regulation and Its Reform: What Have We Learned?, pages 407-484, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Haoyan Sun & Ming Fan & Yong Tan, 2020. "An Empirical Analysis of Seller Advertising Strategies in an Online Marketplace," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(1), pages 37-56, March.
    16. Gui Liberali & Alina Ferecatu, 2022. "Morphing for Consumer Dynamics: Bandits Meet Hidden Markov Models," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(4), pages 769-794, July.
    17. Raluca M. Ursu, 2018. "The Power of Rankings: Quantifying the Effect of Rankings on Online Consumer Search and Purchase Decisions," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 37(4), pages 530-552, August.
    18. Adena, Maja & Hager, Anselm, 2020. "Does online fundraising increase charitable giving? A nation-wide field experiment on Facebook," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Economics of Change SP II 2020-302, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    19. Stefan Stremersch & Vardit Landsman & Sriram Venkataraman, 2013. "The Relationship Between DTCA, Drug Requests, and Prescriptions: Uncovering Variation in Specialty and Space," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(1), pages 89-110, June.
    20. Blecher, Evan, 2008. "The impact of tobacco advertising bans on consumption in developing countries," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 930-942, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:68:y:2022:i:2:p:866-882. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.