The selling of disease

"Contrary to popular belief, the cause of disease is not in matter nor is it the result of physical conditions."

Lynn Gray Jackson

Not Long Ago , someone asked me if I'd ever noticed how often diseases are sold to the public. At first this seemed surprising. Sell sickness and disease? But, since my friend made that comment, I've been watching advertisements more closely and have noticed that she has a point.

Besides advertisements of products relating to certain illnesses, episodes on television include detailed descriptions of diseases, suggested treatments, and statistics on curability and vulnerability. What really caught my attention, however, was an article in a well-known newspaper about an advertisement in an upscale Saudi magazine. The ad, which was placed by an American clinic, showed a color photo of a beaming customer in white flowing robes and Middle Eastern headgear.

The advertisement told of a fearful day in this man's life when he suffered from a heart attack and came to their clinic for treatment. It described a successful operation and explained that the clinic could help others with the same difficulty. The newspaper article about the advertisement reported, however, that the patient pictured was not a patient at all. He was "a fictitious character . . . his testimonial the invention of a creative ad executive in the Middle East." His story was a "composite biography" inspired by similar cases.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

A TELEVISION AD CAN'T MAKE ME SICK