Seventy-five percent of the revenue from Fox News’ evening news is from pharmaceutical companies. This is according to an interview Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did with Valuetainment at the beginning of 2024. These pharma ads air during prime-time slots, and despite the decline in legacy media, as recently as April of this year, 1.9 million people watched Fox’s top hosts. Each of those viewers is a potential customer. But it’s not just Fox News: Across the board, the pharma industry is the biggest spender when it comes to television advertisements.
How often do we see any negative coverage about pharmaceutical drugs or medications? I bet if you watched the news today, or the sports game, watched a YouTube video, or scrolled a social media account, you’ve seen multiple advertisements for the newest and greatest cancer drug, vaccine, or an old standby like Advil. They are so common, I for one, rarely bother to think about it.
Each of these commercials and ads are always talking positively about what this medication can do for you—and the happy outcome you will experience, if you can survive the ten different side-effects listed in the fine print at the bottom of the screen. The music is serene, and the people end up happy and smiling at the end of the ad. There are never any ads reporting a negative interaction with medication unless it’s one of the “if xyz happened, you might be entitled to compensation” ads for lawsuits.
Consider, too, all the positive media coverage pharma companies received through COVID-19—and the scorn anyone questioning those companies received. Why is this?
Big Pharma Valuations
To find the answer, a good place to start is with the top earning pharmaceutical companies. Let’s look at a few of the most recognizable names from the last few years and their spot amongst the top earners.
Johnson & Johnson came in first in revenue with $85.2 billion for 2023. Their current market cap (depending on when you read this) is around $392 billion. Pfizer was the fourth-largest earner in 2023 with $58.5 billion and around a $166 billion market cap. AstraZeneca came in eighth, with $45.8 billion in revenue in 2023 and a $241 billion market cap.
How would Big Pharma reach enough people to make this much money? There are, of course, the government contracts like those handed out to Pfizer over the years. But what better way than to reach people than through their daily media? In 2024 there are currently just six major conglomerates that own most of the media we consume. In order from largest to smallest, they are Comcast, Walt Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount Global, Sony, and Amazon. If there’s an internet, news, or entertainment channel or program you watch, it’s likely owned by one of those six. This makes it an easy task for pharma companies to get their products in front of our eyes.
Pharma Pays Well
Finding out how much money media outlets make off pharma advertising can be surprisingly difficult. However, in 2021, pharma companies spent $6.88 billion on direct-to-consumer advertising. And they spent (at least) $250 million to tell the public that the COVID-19 vaccine was “safe and effective.”
Connections and Friendships in Media and Pharma
It certainly helps facilitate deals and positive coverage when the two entities have common interests and interact with one another. For instance, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is a common place for these owners and executives to mingle. Figures such as James Murdoch (son of Fox owner Rupert Murdoch and former CEO of 21st Century Fox), Michael J. Cavanagh (president of Comcast), Michael Froman (president of the CFR and board director of Disney), and Dr. Albert Bourla (chairman and CEO of Pfizer) are all members.
In another example, Joseph Wolk, the chief financial officer at Johnson & Johnson, is a member of the CNBC Global CFO Council, which is designed to help “the modern CFO strengthen relationships with their peers and with CNBC’s world-class business and financial journalists.”
The Predatory Cycle
Big Pharma are the wolves in sheep clothing. Unlike doctors who take the Hippocratic Oath (although we will see how little this means shortly), pharmaceutical companies are not beholden to such ideals. Pharma companies are based on selling drugs. Yes, the drugs may be beneficial, but their ultimate goal is the profits derived from the drugs. This is why they spend so much money on ads to show us their newest offerings, and thus starting the cycle.
The next step in the predatory cycle is when we follow the directions in the commercials—“ask your doctor if this treatment is right for you.” We trust the doctors to then evaluate our condition and the medicinal offerings and give us their unbiased opinion. Unfortunately, this has not been the case with many doctors for a long time. According to one study, between 2013 and 2022, pharmaceutical companies paid doctors more than $12 billion in various gifts and fees.
This relationship became even clearer during COVID when doctors were “bribed” with extra compensation for giving out the COVID vaccine. While, in this case, the money came from insurance companies, it highlights the pay-to-play outcome doctors participate in.
Money is power, and Big Pharma uses its wealth to wield that near complete control over the media companies. Through the common interests in various organizations, they establish relationships that make it easier for deals to get done. Since most of the media is owned by just six groups, the power is even easier to assert. This symbiotic relationship between the two creates a massive issue that us consumers need to keep in mind as future drugs and vaccines are rolled out. Fortunately, we still have the power to do our own research and say no to big pharma propaganda.
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Image credit: Unsplash
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