• Ad Age, Thursday, November 9, 2006 12 PM

With Democrats gaining control of the U.S. Senate along with the House, marketing issues such as prescription drugs and kids' food ads could get far more attention from Congress.

Prescription-drug advertising has been an issue for Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and he has co-sponsored legislation that would impose a two-year moratorium on advertising a drug after its approval. Kennedy has also criticized the FDA for not giving direct-to-consumer drug ads sufficient scrutiny. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who has been critical of food advertising, will be chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

In the House, the changes became apparent today when Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., outlined some issues he would push as incoming chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Among them: privacy issues and prescription-drug ads. He also takes a dim view of the FCC's attempts to ease media-ownership rules.

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