End celebrity endorsement of screening, say researchers

doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7500.1156

BMJ 2005;330:1156 (14 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7500.1156

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Marketing

End celebrity endorsement of screening, say researchers

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The convict tradition runs deep down under. When a company promotingfull body computed tomography was looking for a celebrity tohelp sell its wares, it turned to the star of that highly successfulAussie soap opera Prisoner, Val Lehman. So on any given Sundaymorning this year, many Australians leisurely flicking throughthe papers have found themselves face to face with the dauntingimage of prison heavyweight character Bea Smith urging themto go out and get screened for everything. Likewise, formerAshes winning Australian cricket captain Alan Border has beenbrought in to bat for an advertisement series on body scans.

Sadly for Val and Alan, the image of full body computed tomographyhas become a little tarnished in Australia and elsewhere. Indeed,an Australian state health authority was so concerned aboutthe failure to properly communicate risks and benefits in someof the promotion that it . . . [Full text of this article]

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Ray Moynihan, visiting editor

BMJ raymond.moynihan@verizon.net

Liz Jakubowski, freelance writer

Australia