Risky Business

Unsplash/The BlowUp

We love the black market—or, at least, our brains do.

A new study in the Journal of Marketing Research suggests that, all else being equal, people think illegal products pack more punch than legal ones.

Across three experiments with different types of products (weight loss drugs, teeth whiteners, and a serum that enhances eyelash length) the pattern held: illegal=more effective.

What closes the gap?  Framing. When people were told that a legal drug was restricted in some way (like with a prescription) or explicitly told the legal version was just as strong, the bias disappeared.

Adderall, for example, is an effective treatment for people with ADHD, but students often get it off the black market as a study aid.  In one experiment, a message about the dangers of Adderall had no impact on participants’ interest. However, if you tell people Adderall simply doesn’t work if you don’t have ADHD, that reduces interest significantly.

Public health information campaigns may be pulling the wrong lever. Risk messaging isn’t that helpful because people already assume illegal treatments are risky. It may be better to persuade people that illegal treatments are ineffective.

The authors wonder what this means for prescription drugs. Do consumers view them as more risky and/or more effective than OTC options?  What happens when a drug transitions from prescription to OTC? That is fertile ground for future research.