I suspect we've all seen those TV ads for lawyers (at least in the U.S.). They're all over the tube.

"Hello, I'm John Smith of Smith, Smith, Smith & Smith. Been injured? We'll work to get you the compensation you deserve! Call our firm today for a free consultation!"

"Been in an accident? Don't fight the insurance companies alone! Call Jones & Jones and let us work for you!"

Well, apparently video ads along the same lines now exist for doctors as well. Personally, I haven't seen on TV all that many for doctors, as I have for lawyers, but perhaps that may change.

And there appear to be companies out there that are in the business of creating short video advertisements for doctors for a fee, videos that the docs can then use to promote themselves and, as they would doubtless hope, bring in new patients..

For example, one such company that I came across, an interesting one at that, calls itself Green Gorilla Videos:

www.greengorillavideo.com

Despite its odd name, I looked at the site and saw that it seems to be well organized, is visually attractive, and, especially of interest, it offers samples of short video ads for doctors and dentists that it has produced. As if speaking to prospective medical practitioner customers, "Hey, doctor, this is what we can do for you! Think of all the new patients it may get for you!"

From this site:

"We produce videos for doctors who rely on the web for new patients. Doctor videos are a powerful marketing tool that convey both information and emotion. They help new patients in the doctor selection process to meet you before they ever meet you."

The sample video ads on that site that I looked at seemed tastefully and responsibly done, with the doctor in the video introducing him(or her)self, and describing services offered, in a friendly, let's-get-acquainted style. Click on the link above, go to the site and look at some of the doctor-self-advertising-videos for yourself.

But then the question arose in my mind. How much should this kind of video self-advertising influence a patient's choosing a doctor? Yes, such a video reveals the doctor's personality, and perhaps offers some clue to many who view it as to whether this doctor is one they would like to visit, based on what they see of the doctor's personality. But of course personality is only one part of what goes into choosing a doctor. But the video will also likely describe services that the doctor offers, so there may be value in that.

And where should such video ads be used? On a doctor's website would seem reasonable, or possibly on Facebook and the like, but would (should) it go further than that? Can we eventually expect pop-up video ads for prostate surgeons to suddenly flash on our screens, as soon as we do a search for "prostatectomy?" (Seems to me this is happening already to a degree with sidebar ads, but not so much yet with actual videos?).

Just a few decades ago, doctors and lawyers weren't permitted to advertise their services, as it was considered "unprofessional." All that changed when some lawyers argued, successfully (Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, 433 U.S. 350, 1977), that not being permitted to do so was a violation of their First Amendment rights. Since then, lawyer ads have become pretty common, as noted above.

So what do you think? Assuming doctors are going to continue to have the legal right to do video ads of themselves, as do lawyers, should there be rules for their doing this? And how common may it become? Perhaps a need for AMA rules regulating video appearance and content? (A quick search found nothing specific to videos, although there are of course AMA general ethical rules regarding advertising).

There could be a real gray area here in terms of video content and practice, as issues specific to video may come up. It may take time for it to sort itself out.

But getting back to the original thread question, how much, and how, would you be influenced by a doctor's self-advertising video, if at all?

JNF said:

"So are you implying that professionals that advertise are somehow less professional or capable than those who do not? And is it just TV that is the concern?"

No, I'm sure most if not all of them who advertise are fine, they just choose to advertise their services while many of their colleagues do not. Maybe that's the way I should have framed the original thread question: Why do some medical professionals advertise and some don't? And what effect does that fact have, if any, on prospective patients?

As hinted at in my OP I come from a generation where doctors and lawyers simply didn't advertise, and now we are living in a world where many would claim advertising is everything. At least the Internet seems much of the time to add to that perception.

There may be a study or studies out there addressing this question, why some medical professionals do ads and some don't and the effect it has (or doesn't) on people (I did a brief search, no luck).

Maybe in another few years it will be the rare professional who does NOT advertise. In the meantime it seems interesting to discuss this kind of professional advertising and where it may go or not go in the future.

This is a very interesting post. I haven't thought it through regarding doctors, but one of my pet peeves are certain lawyer ads. These ads feature a bunch of clients (actors quite often) who say they were injured and the lawyer got them $200,000. or something like that. The implication is: let's make a federal case out of anything and you can get yours and be on easy street. It implies that you are probably a fool for being a working stiff. I got mine; now you can get yours. Anyway, that's the impression I get from some of these ads. That turns me off...totally.

I don't see much medical advertising, other than some incessant hearing clinic ads. I suppose they could be useful. Not sure

Mel

I am so disgusted with the pharmaceutical and medical company television ads that I have decided that as a matter of principle to not patronize any of them. I understand that this is a case of "cutting off my nose to spite my face". Big Pharma is the most egregious offender, they make my life miserable especially around the tv news hour.

The obnoxious bunch includes apparently ethical medical groups like MD Anderson and Cancer Center of America. Even my own medical group has started "feel good" TV blurbs. The cost of those ads, particularly from the pharmaceutical industry are passed on to you and me. I read the other day that pharma spend twice as much on ads as they do on research....end of rant..!

81:

There is another aspect to this. We look at your post as PC patients. We have much greater demands and we look for special doctors. If I was some guy just tooling along, without PC, I might look at the ads differently. Then again, I already have a family practice physician, who I like. So, I would probably be totally disinterested in those ads.

Now, if I moved to a new locale and was looking for a medico, then maybe I would peruse those ads more carefully, although I doubt that would be my #1 method of finding a doc.



Mel