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Comparative Study
. 2021 Jan 25;18(3):1054.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph18031054.

Health Advertising during the Lockdown: A Comparative Analysis of Commercial TV in Spain

David Blanco-Herrero  1 , Jorge Gallardo-Camacho  2 , Carlos Arcila-Calderón  1
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Health Advertising during the Lockdown: A Comparative Analysis of Commercial TV in Spain

David Blanco-Herrero et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

During the lockdown declared in Spain to fight the spread of COVID-19 from 14 March to 3 May 2020, a context in which health information has gained relevance, the agenda-setting theory was used to study the proportion of health advertisements broadcasted during this period on Spanish television. Previous and posterior phases were compared, and the period was compared with the same period in 2019. A total of 191,738 advertisements were downloaded using the Instar Analytics application and analyzed using inferential statistics to observe the presence of health advertisements during the four study periods. It was observed that during the lockdown, there were more health advertisements than after, as well as during the same period in 2019, although health advertisements had the strongest presence during the pre-lockdown phase. The presence of most types of health advertisements also changed during the four phases of the study. We conclude that, although many differences can be explained by the time of the year-due to the presence of allergies or colds, for instance-the lockdown and the pandemic affected health advertising. However, the effects were mostly visible after the lockdown, when advertisers and broadcasters had had time to adapt to the unexpected circumstances.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; Spain; advertisements; agenda-setting theory; health advertising; health communication; lockdown; television.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Proportion of health advertisements.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Proportion of advertisements of slimming products in each phase.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Proportion of advertisements of analgesics and other anti-inflammatory products in each phase.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Proportion of advertisements of antacids in each phase.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Proportion of advertisements of antihistamine products in each phase.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Proportion of advertisements of anti-flu products in each phase.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Proportion of advertisements of vitamin supplements in each phase.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Proportion of advertisements of medical creams and sprays in each phase.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Proportion of advertisements of laxatives and antidiarrheal products in each phase.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Proportion of advertisements of throat lozenges in each phase.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Proportion of advertisements of sleeping products in each phase.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Proportion of the rest of pharmaceutical products in each phase.
Figure 13
Figure 13
Proportion of advertisements of masks and other anti-COVID products in each phase.
Figure 14
Figure 14
Proportion of advertisements of therapeutical products in each phase.
Figure 15
Figure 15
Proportion of advertisements of dental services in each phase.
Figure 16
Figure 16
Proportion of advertisements of paramedical services in each phase.
Figure 17
Figure 17
Proportion of advertisements of health insurance in each phase.
Figure 18
Figure 18
Proportion of advertisements of residential care and assistance in each phase.
Figure 19
Figure 19
Proportion of advertisements of other medical services in each phase.
Figure 20
Figure 20
Proportion of advertisements of public PSAs in each phase.
Figure 21
Figure 21
Proportion of advertisements of commercial public service announcements (PSAs) in each phase.
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