How do you propose drug manufacturers advertise?

To the doctors who actually prescribe the medication and have the training to understand which drug is best.

This is how it is done in every country on earth except for the US and New Zealand.

You don't TELL your doctor to prescribe you anything. You mention it to your doctor and he will look into the drug and see if it may be applicable to you...

Lmao, what fantasy world is this? If the doctor says yes you are happy, if they say no you will be unhappy, this is introducing an incentive/pressure that should not exist. In most cases it is a small difference but doctors are human and they are not going to argue with every single patient about which drug is the optimal one for them. For example there have recently been a lot of advertisements for direct factor Xa inhibitors to replace Warfarin, in many ways they are superior blood thinners but they have one major flaw, they cannot be easily reversed. Doctors are under pressure from patients to give them the new "better" drug when in some cases (like someone who falls a lot) it might be worse for them. This is not conveyed at all in their advertisements and the patient is not adequately informed about the risks and benefits. This is just one of many potential examples of why direct to consumer ads should be more closely regulated.

I would argue it is a different case for OTC drugs as at least the consumer is also the one making the choice and the potential risks are generally more minor.