LAUSR

Abstract Objectives We are not aware of research on the association of social factors with trust for online social media direct-to-consumer prescription medication advertisements (DTCA). We study the association of race/ethnicity and social factors with online social media DTCA trust. Methods Participants (n = 665) were asked no/yes questions about their exposure to online social media DTCA advertisements from any of the following online social media platforms of Facebook, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, Twitter, Tumblr, and YouTube. Multivariate linear regression analyses were performed for trust and included predictors of race/ethnicity and social factors. Results Asian/Asian American race/ethnicity (B = 6.71, SE = 1.63, p Conclusions We recommend that pharmaceutical marketers revise their current marketing policy and allocate in their budgets funding for online social media DTCA that are tailored to Asians/Asian Americans and include topics relating to bonding social capital. Pharmaceutical marketers may also want to employ easily accessible approaches for sharing online social media DTCA so that those with strong bonding social capital can connect with each other.