Cancer marketing – a survivor’s perspective

In the last couple years, I’ve noticed a marked increase in promotion for cancer centers and cancer units in existing hospitals. Locally, it started with Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Then Northside Hospital Cancer Institute followed suit. Now you can’t seem to move around Atlanta without seeing one of their billboards, or hearing a radio ad. They have several ads on Youtube which I imagine also appear on TV. Most recently, MD Anderson Cancer Center has gotten into the act, which means they believe they can get cancer patients from this market to come to Texas, since that’s the nearest they come to Atlanta.

I approach these ads from a unique perspective. I’m a cancer survivor approaching my 4th year cancer-free. (I blogged about that, too, if you’re interested.) I’ve spent the last 20 years in marketing. My current employer is in healthcare. (Since I mention them, this blog is solely my opinion and does not reflect their positions.)

These spots piss me off. 

Let me talk about these ads from a marketing perspective. I understand why they’re marketing cancer treatment. According to the American Cancer Society, the lifetime risk of developing cancer for men is about 1 in 2, women about 1 in 3. So if you’re in a room with three people, one of you is likely to receive a cancer diagnosis. Over a million people will be diagnosed this year. That’s a huge market. If you’re one of those unlucky folks, are a caretaker, or a potential referrer, cancer centers want you to think of them when you’re diagnosed. Not only do I get it, but if I was in charge of marketing at one of these places, I’d probably suggest it.

Maybe that’s why these spots piss me off. From a business perspective, they’re doing the right thing. 

As a survivor, there are two things that bother me most about this. That we’re being marketed to at all is bothersome. There have been so many cases of unscrupulous people marketing to people with various illnesses that it makes me queasy. What makes it worse for me is that from a business perspective, it makes absolute sense. I also want to be sure to mention that I don’t equate Northside Hospital with unscrupulous marketers. Atlanta Cancer Care, who managed my treatment, is affiliated with Northside Hospital Cancer Institute, and they are truly fabulous.

So what is it?

Maybe it’s the suggestion that we will all survive our cancers. I did. Many people will. But about a half-million of us will die from cancer in 2015.

Maybe it’s the radio spots suggesting that Northside will have something to do with what you do after cancer. I don’t think about my cancer as I go through my day. I don’t do what I do because of it… or because of the people who treated me. While they were great, I’d prefer to forget them.

Maybe it’s just that I have chosen not to define my life by the fact that I survived cancer. I got sick, I was treated, and I got better. I want to move on. Maybe these spots piss me off just because they remind me that I went through this thing, and that some people will always define me in that way, whether I like it or not.