Content audit of drug advertisements in Pakistan.

A sample of 120 drug advertisements was drawn by nonprobability convenience sampling from among the stalls of 50 pharmaceutical companies participating in an exhibition in Karachi, Pakistan. 23 belonging to the NSAID drug group were selected and evaluated on whether they met guidelines for ethical advertisements as laid down in the Drugs Act, 1976. Only 5 out of the 23 advertisements met at least 14 out of 16 criteria for ethical advertisements as given in the Drugs Act, 1976.