Cancer center advertisements appealed to emotions but lacked data on costs, risks

Many advertisements for cancer centers included emotional appeals and information about the benefits of treatment, but few mentioned the costs or risks associated with therapies, according to study results.

Researchers evaluated data from Kantar Media on 409 unique clinical service advertisements placed by 102 cancer centers in 2012. Eighty-seven cancer centers advertised on television, 28 advertised in magazines and 13 advertised in both mediums.

More than half (57%) of the advertisements mentioned cancer type, although only 9% mentioned cancer stage.

Advertisements were far more likely to promote treatment (88%) than screening (18%), supportive services (13%) or palliative care (2%). Despite the emphasis on treatment, 50% did not mention a specific treatment option, and fewer than 2% cited alternatives to a specific advertised treatment service.

Twenty-seven percent of all advertisements mentioned the benefits of therapy. However, only 2% quantified the benefits, fewer than 2% mentioned the risks, and 5% mentioned costs or coverage of the advertised treatments. No advertisements quantified risks.

The majority (85%) of advertisements appealed to emotions, according to researchers. Those emotional appeals more frequently were related to survival or the possibility for a cure (85%). Sixty-one percent of advertisements mentioned hope, 41% which described cancer as a “fight” or “battle,” and 30% used language or techniques that evoked fear, according to researchers.

Forty-three percent of the advertisements that appealed to emotions did so by mentioning patient-centered care. These included advertisements that mentioned individualized care (31%), comfort or quality of life (26%), and shared decision making (6%).

Sixteen percent of the advertisements evaluated were placed by NCI-designated cancer centers. Those advertisements more frequently mentioned costs or coverage of services (12% vs. 3%) and more often contained survival-related emotional appeals (91% vs. 83%) than advertisements placed by non-NCI–designated cancer centers.

“Given the inherently frightening nature of cancer, it may be impossible for cancer centers to advertise without affecting viewers’ emotions to some degree,” the researchers wrote. “However, clinical advertisements that use emotional appeal uncoupled with information about indications, benefits, risks or alternatives may lead patients to pursue care that is either unnecessary or unsupported by scientific evidence.”

However, if quantified data were included, they may not necessarily be accurate or helpful, Gregory A. Abel, MD, MPH, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, wrote in an accompanying editorial.

“Most cancer centers treat more than one type of cancer and offer many treatments,” Abel wrote. “As a result, unlike direct-to-consumer marketing for specific medications, if these advertisements were to present quantified data, they would likely manifest in the form of cancer center survival statistics. These data are notoriously easy to manipulate and would be difficult for consumers to evaluate, given the contribution of institutional case mix (referral bias).”

Disclosure: Abel reports no relevant financial disclosures. See the study for a full list of the remaining researchers’ relevant financial disclosures.