Drug advertisements broadcasted on radios in Thailand  Surarong Chinwong*, Thongpool Mahaprom, Orapan Suparyong, Dujrudee Chinwong Department of Pharmaceutical Care, Faculty of Pharmacy, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand *surarong@gmail.com Abstract ID: 8282 One of powerful tools for massive communication is radio broadcasting. Radio broadcasting is also used for advertising of medicine in Thailand. Although, advertising of medicines in Thailand must be approved by the government agency according to the law before broadcasting, illegal advertising of medicines was found, especially through community radios broadcasting.   This study aimed to determine the situation of illegal advertising of medicines broadcasted through radios. Introduction Districts Illegal drug advertisement n (%) Total drug advertisement District 1 only 1 (33.3) 3 (23.1) District 2 only 1 (50.0) 2 (15.4) Both district 1 & 2 3 (37.5) 8 (61.5) Total 5 (38.5) 13 (100.0) Table 1. Total and illegal drug advertisements in study districts Table 2. Types of drug advertisement Methods of advertising Number of advertising pieces, n (%) Advertising spot 31 (62.0) Presenting by a radio broadcaster 17 (34.0) Live talks on experiences on drug use by the audiences 1 (2.0) Advertising music Total 50 (100.0) Objective Groups of medicines advertising broadcasted on radios n (%) Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs 22 (44.0) Antimicrobials Anthelmintic drugs 8 (16.0) Drugs for common cold symptoms 5 (10.0) Gastrointestinal drugs 4 (8.0) Antifungals drugs 2 (4.0) Table 3. Groups of medicines advertising broadcasted on radios (n=50) Methods This is a cross-sectional study. The drug advertising broadcasted on radios in 2 districts in a northern province of Thailand were randomly recorded.   The programs broadcasted with radios were recorded by 13 randomly selected local radios from the beginning time to the closing time of the stations.  The broadcasting programs were recorded for 4 days, i.e., 2 weekdays, Saturday and Sunday, in each station between June and October 2014.   Each of drug advertising was evaluated whether it violated the law using the evaluation form which was developed by the researchers and validated as well as approved by the experts in the field of advertisement and law. This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee in Human, Faculty of Pharmacy, Chiang Mai University, Thailand. . Types of advertising   No. of advertising pieces n (%) Legal Illegal Advertising spot 31 13 (41.9) 18 (58.1) Presenting by a radio broadcaster 17 17 (100.0) Live talks on experiences on drug use by the audiences 1 1 (100.0) Advertising music Total 50 13 (26.0) 37 (74.00) Table 4. Types of drug advertisement by legal and illegal against the law Type of Illegal advertisements against the law No. of advertising pieces, n (%) Presenting therapeutics properties of dangerous drugs 27 (54.0) Over claiming properties of drug which could relief, cure or prevent symptoms/ diseases, and exaggerated or false claim 26 (52.0) Persuade consumers to take unnecessary medications 21 (42.0) Presenting patients' suffering 12 (26.0) Approved by others 10 (20.0) Using sweepstakes or giveaway 5 (10.0) Table 5. Types of Illegal advertisements against the law (n=50) Results 5 stations, out of 13 from both district 1 and 2, were found to do against the law with the illegal drug advertisements. All 5 radio stations (38%) were community radio stations (Table 1).  The drug adverting was broadcasted in various ways. The majority of advertising were presented by advertising spots (62%, Table 2).  The most common illegal drug advertising was non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and antimicrobial drugs (Table 3). Of 50 different drug advertising during the study period, we found 37 illegal drug advertising (74%, Table 4). The most common illegal advertisements against the law were presenting therapeutics properties of dangerous drugs (54%, Table 5). Note: Each drug advertisement can be found illegal more than one type.. Conclusions This study found that about three-fourths of the drug advertisements through radios were illegal, especially though community radios. This should call to attention of the government authority to take action on controlling the drug advertising broadcasted on community radios to follow the law. Moreover, people should be educated on the illegal drug advertisement in order to prevent them from inappropriate drug use. Acknowledgement:: We would like to acknowledge all people involved in this study.