The practice of advertising provider health products directly to consumers is increasing among the pharmaceutical companies. Advertising is more frequently telling consumers, "Ask your doctor about...", a not too subtle way of saying: "Ask for a prescription for..."
The amount of money spent by medical suppliers, particularly drug companies, has always dwarfed the resources available to the chiropractic profession. Few chiropractic suppliers have attempted to market chiropractic directly to the public, but recently one chiropractic company has decided to focus advertising to potential chiropractic patients.
Foot Levelers, Inc., will be running a full-page advertisement in the September/October issues of Living Fit, and Alternative Medicine Digest. The ads present the benefits of chiropractic and Foot Levelers' products. They will feature a toll-free number to call for the name and address of DCs in their area that use Foot Levelers.
Foot Levelers' President Kent Greenawalt specified that when callers dial the 800 number, the operator will not be giving them information about Foot Levers' products, but "will only offer the caller a choice of several chiropractors in the caller's area who perform postural examinations and who prescribe our orthotics."
- Living Fit is a publication designed for active women over 35 with a median household income of over $53,000.
- Alternative Medicine Digest is directed at both sexes, with 85% of their readership being 25-54 years old. Digest readers have an average household income of over $40,000, and 79% have spent $250 or more on alternative health care products in the past year. Alternative Medicine Digest is distributed through 1,000 General Nutrition Center health stores, and the major bookstore chains.
Until the chiropractic profession has an effective national advertising campaign, organizations like Foot Levelers, Inc., the Chiropractic Centennial Foundation, and state chiropractic associations will continue to act independently. The ACA and ICA have, if you've been paying attention, joined in a national PR campaign called the "Alliance for Chiropractic Progress" (see "ACA and ICA Establish Public Awareness Alliance", April 7, 1997 issue). While the Alliance is a work in progress, combining the efforts of companies and chiropractic groups with those of the national chiropractic associations would result in a broader chiropractic marketing effort and a wider audience for the chiropractic message.
