Direct-to-doctor marketing, too

I really enjoy reading my co-blogger Noelle’s posts, since I’m often pointed in new directions or prompted to reflect a little bit about some of the themes she brings up. Recently, Noelle discussed direct-to-consumer marketing for proton beam therapy.

Unfortunately, my wife and I recently experienced a little direct-to- consumer marketing too — and not the most honorable kind at that. My wife was recently in a car accident (not at fault) — happily nothing that caused her any harm but scary nonetheless. Within days the envelopes started to arrive from the lawyers — some bigger and glossier than others, all dutifully noting that they were explicitly legal advertisements (no, really?) and each purporting to be on her side, standing up for her rights, wanting her to get what (they claimed) she was owed. Well, we thought, what would you expect from lawyers, after all? J But then the medical advertisements started coming— chiropractors and even a spine surgeon! — looking for an opportunity to make a few dollars at the expense of a vulnerable individual.

Not long after this, I received a check in the mail. Twenty dollars — and who can resist free money? All I had to do was check off some boxes on an accompanying survey that asked me which of the hundreds of free journals cycling through my mailbox I read, and how many articles in each, and ... how open I was to trying out new pharmaceuticals in practice. And then I realized what would happen if I cashed the check — the identifying number on the check would be linked to the identifying number on the survey, and I’d be wrapped up in a neat little package to auction to the highest bidder who wanted to learn how to most efficiently and ruthlessly target me with drug advertising. So I tossed away the survey and got rid of the check.

Direct-to-consumer or direct-to-doctor marketing — sometimes blatant, sometimes subtle — each time target a person with specific vulnerabilities, whether the victim of a car accident or a fellow learning how to prescribe chemotherapy. I was recently made aware of a student-led protest at Harvard Medical School about the influence of industry in academics — but that’s another post for another day.