BUSI 428 Week 5 Discussion Board Forum 5 Example

Discussion Board Forum 5: Ethics in Health Care Advertising

BUSI 428 Strategic Management and Marketing in Healthcare, Discussion Board Forum 5

Thread by [Student Name]

The cancer center, its campaign and the classmates are composites; the textbook, Scripture and the peer-reviewed sources cited are real.

Our regional cancer center's agency has proposed a television and online campaign titled "Beat cancer here." Each spot would feature a survivor describing a frightening diagnosis, a hard fight and a return to normal life, ending with the center's logo and phone number. The stories are true, the patients are willing and early focus groups loved them. As a member of the marketing committee, I was asked whether the campaign meets our ethical standards. In the textbook's view, marketing a health service carries a duty to help patients choose well (Cellucci et al., 2014), which means the test is not only whether an ad works but whether it leaves viewers better able to decide.

Research suggests the proposal fits a troubling pattern. Vater et al. (2014) analyzed 409 advertisements placed by 102 cancer centers in major magazines and on television and found that 88% promoted treatment, 85% used emotional appeals and 61% evoked hope for survival, while 30% induced fear. Benefits of treatment were mentioned in 27% of ads but risks in only 2%, and benefits were almost never quantified. Nearly half used patient testimonials, which rarely carried disclaimers and never described what a typical patient might expect. Schwartz and Woloshin (2019) show how quickly such advertising has grown: spending to advertise health services directly to consumers grew more than fivefold over those twenty years, while FDA letters citing misleading drug promotion fell from 156 to 11 in the same period. Much of the responsibility for honest health care advertising now rests with the organizations themselves.

I recommended five rules for our campaign. Every testimonial should state that results vary and that the patient's experience is not typical of all patients. Any claim about outcomes should be supported by our own data. The ads should describe services, such as second opinions and nurse navigation, not only cures. Fear should never be the main appeal. And each spot should name a way to get information, not only to book an appointment. A cancer advertisement should leave a frightened viewer better informed, not more frightened.

Paul urged believers to think about whatever is true, honorable, just and pure (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, Philippians 4:8). That list is a sound test for any message aimed at people facing a serious illness.

Reply to Brooke

Brooke, you argued that testimonials are ethical as long as the patients are real and their stories are accurate, since a true story cannot be misleading. I agree that honesty in the details is essential, but a story can be true and still create a false impression. If a cancer center shows only patients who were cured, viewers may reasonably conclude that cure is the usual result. Vater et al. (2014) found that almost half of cancer center advertisements used testimonials, that these focused on survival and that only 15% included any disclaimer, and none described what a typical patient could expect. Randall et al. (2025) found that patients' public comments about physicians focus mainly on communication and bedside manner, which suggests that testimonials about kindness and clear explanation might be both more representative and more persuasive than stories of dramatic cures. Cellucci et al. (2014) remind marketers that trust is a health organization's central asset, and trust is lost quickly when patients feel misled. Proverbs sets the Lord's hatred of deceitful speech against His delight in people who deal faithfully (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, Proverbs 12:22). Faithful advertising, in that sense, includes the impression the whole message leaves, not just the truth of each sentence. Would your organization be willing to pair each survivor's story with a brief, plain statement about typical results, or to feature stories about the experience of care rather than its outcome? Either step would keep the emotional power of a real voice while protecting viewers from false hope, and it would likely strengthen trust among the many viewers who know someone whose cancer did not end in cure.

Reply to Keith

Keith, you suggested that paid social media promotion is a cheaper and more targeted alternative to television for a cancer center. The targeting is real, and it raises its own ethical questions. Platforms can deliver ads to people whose online behavior suggests they or a family member may have cancer, which means messages may reach people at their most frightened. Zhong et al. (2025) found that hospitals build reach and influence on social media mainly by posting regularly and interacting with followers, which suggests that steady, helpful content may accomplish more than paid targeting in any case. Schwartz and Woloshin (2019) document how much medical advertising has shifted toward electronic media, where the volume of messages has grown far faster than spending, and where oversight is thin. Cellucci et al. (2014) encourage marketers to define their audience and message carefully, and with targeting that care becomes an ethical duty. Matthew describes Jesus looking on the crowds with compassion, seeing them as harassed and helpless like sheep with no shepherd (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, Matthew 9:36). Marketing aimed at frightened people should reflect that compassion. A practical approach might be to use paid promotion only for educational content, such as screening reminders and information sessions, and to avoid targeting based on inferred diagnoses. Would your organization be comfortable publishing its targeting rules so that patients could see how its ads reach them? Transparency about targeting may become as important as honesty in the message itself. It would also give the center a way to show the community that it treats people facing cancer as neighbors to be served rather than leads to be captured.

References

Cellucci, L. W., Wiggins, C., & Farnsworth, T. J. (2014). Healthcare marketing: A case study approach. Health Administration Press.

English Standard Version Bible. (2016). Crossway. (Original work published 2001)

Randall, S. E., Gjonaj, K., Siddiqui, R. N., Mansour, J., Mehrotra, S., Saraf, S. M., & Mulcahey, M. K. (2025). Patient online ratings of sports medicine surgeons most commonly relate to bedside manner and communication. Arthroscopy, Sports Medicine, and Rehabilitation, 7(4), 101202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asmr.2025.101202

Schwartz, L. M., & Woloshin, S. (2019). Medical marketing in the United States, 1997-2016. JAMA, 321(1), 80-96. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2018.19320

Vater, L. B., Donohue, J. M., Arnold, R., White, D. B., Chu, E., & Schenker, Y. (2014). What are cancer centers advertising to the public? Annals of Internal Medicine, 160(12), 813-820. https://doi.org/10.7326/M14-0500

Zhong, X., Ma, Y., & Yu, H. (2025). Leveraging promotional strategies to enhance hospital influence on social media: Cross-sectional study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 27, e70676. https://doi.org/10.2196/70676