Yet turn on most top news channels just a year later -- and one could easily get the impression the bottom three are now at the top of the list! Pretty remarkable how quickly FEAR & MIND CONTROL can change people's opinions, ain't it?
Big Pharma Sinks to the Bottom of U.S. Industry Rankings
JUSTIN MCCARTHY | SEPTEMBER 3, 2019 | GALLUP NEWS
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The pharmaceutical industry is now the most poorly regarded industry in Americans' eyes, ranking last on a list of 25 industries that Gallup tests annually. Americans are more than twice as likely to rate the pharmaceutical industry negatively (58%) as positively (27%), giving it a net-positive score of -31. The restaurant industry is rated most positively.
The pharmaceutical industry has unseated the federal government as the lowest-rated industry this year, in terms of its net-positive score; the government has been last or tied for last from 2011 through 2018. The healthcare industry's negative ratings also exceed its positive ratings by double digits, while the advertising and public relations industry's net rating is barely negative.
Americans' net ratings for the pharmaceutical industry have never been lower since Gallup first polled on industries in 2001. Over the past 19 years, few industries have been rated lower than the pharmaceutical industry's current -31 net rating. These include the federal government and the oil and gas, real estate, and automobile industries.
The new low in the pharmaceutical industry's U.S. image comes amid a range of criticisms of industry norms, from generating the highest drug costs in the world to spending massive amounts in lobbying politicians to the industry's role in the U.S. opioid crisis. Several Democratic candidates have called out the industry in their party's presidential debates.
Just after Gallup conducted this poll, an Oklahoma judge ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million for its role in the state's opioid epidemic. Meanwhile, legislators on Capitol Hill are working to rein in the industry's drug prices.
Bottom Line
The pharmaceutical industry's U.S. image has fallen to a new low. The industry can hope to recover in the same way other industries have after particularly negative ratings, including the oil and gas, real estate, and automobile industries. Real estate's image, for example, managed to recover from being near the bottom of the list, with a net rating of -40 in 2008, to its current spot among the top 10-rated industries with a +30 net rating.
As the opioid epidemic rages on -- and as the actors involved in creating it continue to experience lawsuits, protests and public shaming -- it may be hard for the pharmaceutical industry to make a comeback just yet. The industry's rating likely will not recover until its role in the opioid epidemic is addressed, and the political pressure on the industry for high prices and massive profits subsides.
Bottom Line
The pharmaceutical industry's U.S. image has fallen to a new low. The industry can hope to recover in the same way other industries have after particularly negative ratings, including the oil and gas, real estate, and automobile industries. Real estate's image, for example, managed to recover from being near the bottom of the list, with a net rating of -40 in 2008, to its current spot among the top 10-rated industries with a +30 net rating.
As the opioid epidemic rages on -- and as the actors involved in creating it continue to experience lawsuits, protests and public shaming -- it may be hard for the pharmaceutical industry to make a comeback just yet. The industry's rating likely will not recover until its role in the opioid epidemic is addressed, and the political pressure on the industry for high prices and massive profits subsides.
READ MORE:
No comments:
Post a Comment