In 2005, just under two in ten (18%) adults say they can trust what pharmaceutical companies have to say in their advertisements “most of the time” and almost half (47%) say they can trust drug company ads “sometimes”. One third (34%) say they can “hardly ever” or “never” trust these ads.

Compared with other industries and groups, the share of the public who say they can trust pharmaceutical companies’ ads “most of the time” (18%) is about the same as for health insurance companies (17%) and HMOs (16%), but higher than the share who say they can trust lawyers’ (11%) and politicians’ (6%) ads “most of the time”. Larger shares say they can trust what doctors (45%) and hospitals (37%) say in their advertisements “most of the time”.

The percent of adults who say they can trust what drug companies say in their ads (18%) has decreased by almost half since 1997 when one-third (33%) said they could trust these ads “most of the time”. Trust has decreased slightly since 1997 for health insurance companies (24% in 1997 to 17% in 2005) and increased somewhat for doctors’ advertisements (37% in 1997 to 45% in 2005).