Mall Advertising Booth

[Jason Silvernail]

Took these from a slideshow at a marketing booth in a shopping mall.
Of course there is an exactly equal chance of this being for any particular healthcare profession at all, and what someone's educational degree in healthcare is says absolutely nothing about what beliefs they hold.

The important thing to realize is that we all work together for the patient's well being and that no one profession is necessarily better or worse than any other.
Clearly, that's what we should take away from this.
I would post pictures from booths in the mall for other healthcare professions but in my (as of this writing) 37 years of life I've NEVER once seen one of these booths for any other group. Must just be coincidence, since the letters after your name say nothing about you, your education, your beliefs about healthcare, or the quality control in your profession. It's all about what you bring to the team.

Remember, this sort of thing only represents a few bad apples, which are present in every profession equally and are in no way encouraged in any particular healthcare profession by virtue of their education, training, or professional culture.
So - remember that folks. Just another outlier here. Nothing more. No indication that this is in any way part of the overall professional culture. None.

[Jason Silvernail]

I think I'm subluxed just looking at all these.

[John W]

...what someone's educational degree in healthcare is says absolutely nothing about what beliefs they hold.

If that's the case, then I wonder what a "physical therapy lifestyle" would be?

Any of our brave chiro friends want to take a stab at this? Or are you still hiding under your VAX-D tables after our last interlocution?

[joebrence9]

I believe we do have to give credit to chiro's for attempting to market to the masses. I think that's where many of us miss the boat---self marketing and promotion. Many of their ideas are invalid and unreliable BUT they are fantastic at influencing mass audiences that a spine becomes misaligned, etc.

[Bas Asselbergs]

Joe, I do not think I want to give "credit" -you are wayyy kinder than I am - but I can acknowledge their training in marketing and perpetuating self-serving memes, that is all.

This type of stuff is just not at all "wellness" or "health care" - it is income generating and that is all. Just like magnets, Q-bands, and other woo.

[zimney3pt]

Apperently I need a manipulation to help my paper cut heal faster next time, who knew?

Many of their ideas are invalid and unreliable BUT they are fantastic at influencing mass audiences that a spine becomes misaligned, etc.

This is a huge problem in so many areas, there is an advertisement for a nutrition supplement that runs on our local radio station and I cringe every time I hear it and think how many people are wasting money on stuff that offers no benefit and yet there seems no way to stop it either. Here is the web page of the product. I wrote a review and gave it 1 star and said why it was of no benefit. After submitting it you get response that it will be reviewed and posted accordingly. It has yet to be posted and there have been two other 5 star comments that have made the page since I submitted mine. Life without ethics will be able to deceive many people. Health care people are not immune to lacking ethical choices to make a dollar.

[zimney3pt]

Just got done reading an article looking at Chiro profession and advertisements like this may not be helping business. While it may get some to come to their practice, it may be driving more away.

While Australian data are lacking, the US adult use of chiropractic services declined from 9.9% in 1997 to 7.4% in 2002. This was the largest relative decrease among CAM professions and, as of 2007, only 7% of the US population was being reached by chiropractic [15].
Chiropractic does not have the same level of mainstream credibility as other healthcare professions. Public perception of chiropractic compares unfavourably with mainstream medicine, with regard to ethics and honesty. In a 2006 Gallup Poll of US adults, chiropractors rated last among seven healthcare professions for being very high or high in honesty and ethical standards [16,17].
In 2006, Australian Readers Digest conducted a poll on the most trusted professions [18]. Chiropractors were placed 13th on a list of 30 professions. Placed at 13th, I suppose the profession can console itself in the knowledge that they rated higher in trust than psychics, ministers of religion, car salesmen and politicians but poorer for the knowledge that the public trusts hairdressers more than chiropractors. And while such polls may not be good scientific evidence, they agree with similar polls on the public's perception of chiropractors [19].

See here for full article

[Drake]

One should take utmost care regarding the selection of an advertising company as an advertising company can either make or break a deal for your products or services. So, if you would like to opt for advertising service providers then do look for them online.

[Diane]

Originally Posted by joebrence9

I believe we do have to give credit to chiro's for attempting to market to the masses.

I don't think they deserve any credit for anything whatsoever. They have managed to turn a very decent field of endeavor, i.e., manual therapy, and turn it into a mass-marketed, anti-scientific, low-credibility, chiro-branded delusionary mishmash for people in pain to have to wade through to get decent help.

[John W]

If I'm going to give the chiros credit for marketing themselves, then I'd have to give Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker credit for building the PTL Club empire.

In the words of George H.W. Bush- famously parodied by Dana Carvey on SNL: "Not gonna do it."

Come on Joe, you don't really think that the healthcare industry in the U.S. is driven by free market forces, do you?

[joebrence9]

Guys,
I do believe that chiro's have been able to influence and attract customers through an exhausting use of marketing campaigns and funds, and for that, I give them credit. While I cannot give them credit for having contributed ANYTHING to medicine, I do believe for the most part they are successful (slimy) salesmen. In Pittsburgh (not sure about other regions), the big, current push by the chiro's is for "Laser Body Scuplting". Their commercials are on TV/radio constantly, and I have been asked by approximately 10-20% of my patients if this works!!! Through mass marketing, they have made my patients consider going to see these "Weight Loss Doctors/Experts" to assist them in a "Revolutionary Non-Invasive Liposuction Procedure". Nowhere are they stating that they are consulting with a chiro to use a technique which is non-scientifically validated, BUT they have campaigned with an expensive modality which has attracted a subset of new patients to their practice. It kinda reminds of me of the shake-weight. Although idiotic, people buy into the sales-pitch.

Come on Joe, you don't really think that the healthcare industry in the U.S. is driven by free market forces, do you?

I agree John. I wonder what Stossel thinks of the chiros?

I do have to say they have great lobbyists and governmental influence to push their snake-oil, so again, have to give them credit for their marketing efforts. What I am not saying is that I support their product. I simply am stating that they market a ton more than us and get people in their door.

[John W]

The term "marketing" of course implies that there is a market in play. Well, there isn't really. There are attitudes and beliefs about health care in an affluent society where people are very misinformed, confused and often desperate.

To prey on people as the chiros do can hardly be considered "marketing". Let's call it what this display in the mall reveals it to be: a scam.

[Jason Silvernail]

I'm no fan of chiropracTIC but there are many chiropracTORs out there doing their best for people in a reasonable way.
Many of the points their community has been raising for years: over-reliance on imaging, surgery and medications for common pain problems, use of the licensure system to cartelize medicine and limit patient choices and their ability to direct market to consumers who want results (whatever those results might be) have a lot of truth to them as well. And these are themes we are picking up and being more vocal on as well in the physical therapy community.
I'll continue to seek out good people in healthcare to partner with, including people with "DC" after their name - but I won't pretend that our professional cultures are not very different in very relevant ways.

[John W]

Note that I don't single out individual practitioners either because I've come across a few DCs who are honest clinicians and sincerely want to help people in pain.

However, if chiropractic were to disappear from the earth tomorrow, I think it would be a large net gain for society.