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In order to improve the effectiveness of product‐claim direct‐to‐consumer advertising (DTCA), the current research examines the effect of a presentational element – the number of treatable symptoms for the advertised medical condition featured in the ad – on consumers' intentions to seek treatment.

Ninety‐five participants recruited at a mall in the northeastern US provided data on behavioral and attitudinal intentions regarding a product‐claim print DTCA for an antidepressant.

Featuring a high (vs low) number of symptoms improved the effectiveness of the product‐claim DTCA. Seeing more symptoms led to heightened perceptions of informativeness, lower persuasive intent, and higher intentions to discuss the advertised ailment and the advertised drug with the doctor. Perceptions of disease prevalence mediated this influence. The perceived impact of each symptom featured in the DTCA was controlled across experimental conditions.

This research contributes to the healthcare marketing literature by demonstrating how managing a presentational element in DTCA influences consumers' metacognitive processing of the health information and consequently their intentions to engage in health‐related behaviors.

Within the regulatory boundaries, pharmaceutical marketers may wish to increase the number of treatable symptoms to feature in their product‐claim DTCA in order to improve the effectiveness.

Within the regulatory boundaries, pharmaceutical marketers may wish to increase the number of treatable symptoms to feature in their product‐claim DTCA in order to improve the effectiveness.

This research builds on the extant literature of examining consumer perceptions of DTCA, and suggests a practical and metacognitive means to improve consumer perceptions to ultimately enhance DTCA effectiveness.

The purpose of this paper is to better understand the effectiveness of direct‐to‐consumer advertising (DTCA) by examining consumer perceptions of persuasive intent and informativeness associated with product‐claim and help‐seeking advertisements, respectively.

In three behavioral experiments, a total of 413 participants provided data on their behavioral intentions and attitudes towards DTCA.

Consumers perceived help‐seeking DTCA as being highly informative without persuasive intent, whereas they perceived product‐claim DTCA as having high‐persuasive intent with little informativeness. Help‐seeking (versus product‐claim) DTCA was more effective in generating stronger behavioral intention to seek treatment for the ailments advertised (i.e. clinical depression and migraine). Consumer perceptions of persuasive intent and informativeness of DTCA were the underlying mediators for this result.

The paper helps to resolve conflicting findings in the previous DTCA research by proposing and presenting evidence which suggests that the perceived persuasive intent and informativeness of the advertised message are two underlying constructs that drive DTCA effectiveness. Considering these two constructs in future research may provide a deeper understanding of how and why DTCA effectiveness varies across different types of DTCA.

The results provide useful information for pharmaceutical companies seeking to maximize DTCA effectiveness in increasing behavioral intention to seek treatment for an advertised disease. Considering the key findings, pharmaceutical companies may decide whether and to what extent to employ product‐claim or help‐seeing DTCA.

The paper is one of the first to comparatively examine consumer perceptions of the two different types of DTCA (product‐claim versus help‐seeking) in terms of their influence on behavioral intent to seek treatment for the advertised medical conditions.