As we discuss in a current working paper, the "going broad" strategy of using entertainment media to reach wider audiences was first pioneered in the area of health.
For example, working in collaboration with experts, screenwriters for the series ER purposely inserted plot scenarios intended to raise attention to beneficial health behaviors. Evaluation of the efforts found important impacts in raising awareness, discussion, and interest in the featured health topic among viewers. More recently, a special issue of the American Journal of Bioethics evaluated the use of programs such as House to teach viewers--even medical students--about ethics.
Not every TV series, of course, reflects closely expert views or opinion. Last week, I found myself thinking this as I sat in the living room working from my laptop as my girlfriend watched the season finale of Gray's Anatomy. The plot line involving a major character's life and death choices on how to treat her skin cancer which had spread to her brain seemed a bit far fetched, if not misleading for viewers.
Turns out my suspicions were correct. Here's how USA Today presented the problem last week:
The two-hour broadcast depicted Izzie and her fellow doctors agonizing over how to treat her melanoma -- a deadly form of skin cancer -- that had spread to her liver, bowel and brain. Because of the location of her brain tumor, doctors presented her with two unattractive options: surgery that could leave her with severe memory problems or a highly toxic drug called interleukin-2, or IL-2.
In fact, doctors never recommend IL-2 for melanoma that has spread to the brain because it can cause bleeding and strokes, says Otis Brawley, chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society. If doctors are concerned about the risks of surgery, they recommend radiosurgery, in which doctors focus intensive radiation on the tumor, he says....
...Though TV hospital shows are great drama, they often stretch the truth, says Brawley, who concedes he went into medicine partly because he was inspired by shows such as Medical Center, the CBS drama that aired from 1969 to 1976. "Many people view the cancer problem as much simpler than it actually is," Brawley says. "That's because they get their medical information from television shows. But television shows are by and large fictional, and much of the medical information there is also going to be fictional."
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Apropos - a compare-and-contrast of the British and U.S. versions of the show Eleventh Hour.
The U.S. version has recycled 3 of the 4 of the British episodes; they skipped (to WP's knowledge) the British episode whose villains were the fossil fuel interests trying to cover up research on global warming.
On the other hand, among the U.S. version's newly-written episodes is one with an evil environmentalist who poisons a bay (which kills people) for the news value.
Is there a way to find out whether TV shows offer "plot placement" akin to product placement, to deliver messages congenial to the funders? And if so, who, in this case, was buying?
People, there are those who have no clue about Malignant Melanoma (the person writing the original post is one of them). As a person, currently going through Melanoma treatment the show, Grays Anatomy is not far off. I have gone through the IV Interferon treatments (interleukin-2, is a type of Interferon drug), and yep it sucks. I am receiving treatment through the University of Minnesota and the Mayo Clinic, and as of right now there is not actual successful treatment of Melanoma, once is spreads to other areas in the body. The doctors can remove the tumors but the cancer itself is not reactive to any chemotherapy. Melanoma is sneaky and it likes to attach the brain, lungs, and liver, all organs that process blood. It is not one of the "in" cancers like breast cancer but it is a tough cancer that kills a lot of people every year, so wear your sunscreen.