Unless you've been living in a cave in Afghanistan, it's hard to have escaped the recent avalanche of bad publicity swirling around Big Pharma. And now comes a survey from
NOP World showing how such negative news stories are impacting consumers' perception of the industry.
According to the survey, eight in 10 physicians, and two-thirds of the public, have recently read or heard news about the drug industry and, among those polled, more than
half say it has impacted their feelings negatively (see charts).
"The industry has some big decisions to make about its future communications strategy," says Brad Fay, managing director of Roper Public Affairs (part of NOP World),
who adds that while most pharmaceutical brands are well-known, the companies themselves remain fairly anonymous.
What surprised Fey was the degree to which news drives negative perceptions. "It was more than we expected and included not just consumers, but physicians," he says. "It was
interesting the degree to which physicians blame the media and government, in particular, for the drug-safety problems, and also the degree to which consumers blame the government
and health-insurance companies."
What can PR pros do about it? According to Fey, the better known a company is, the more favorably it is perceived. "From a PR standpoint, it demonstrates the importance of
more active communication," he says. "PR should use this data to help argue that this industry needs to be more visible and more proactive with all of the key stakeholders. Much
of PR is based around products, but there's a need to look at the corporation, the role it plays and the challenges it faces. It would be far better to develop some positive
stories to create a reservoir of good will that will be used when the inevitable bad news comes along."
Contact: Brad Fey, 609.683.6186, http://www.nopworld.com