Do you think this makes Cancer Treatment Centers sound desperate?

No I think it’s a perfectly natural thing to say. Oftentimes there are significant waiting periods for medical treatment. And cancer treatments are far more effective when started early.

What @Mariah said, absolutely. It’s comforting to know that you can see someone quickly. it’s really scary when you think you might have cancer, triply so when you actually do.
Getting started on getting better needs to happen right now.

Yes, it does make them sound desperate to drum up business. Hospital advertising always seems weird to me.

Coca-Cola makes you thirsty with a commercial. Ford makes you desire a new car.

Do Cancer Treatment Centers want to give me cancer?

When I see their ads, I always wonder how good the facilities and doctors are. I live where we have access to NYC (Sloan Kettering, etc.), or Yale.

The marketing term for this is a “call to action”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_to_action_%28marketing%29 . We run local TV ads for our vein practice, and are pretty sensitive to coming across as desperate or too much like used car salesmen (because the wrong ad can damage your reputation). I’m interested to hear how others feel about it to be honest. GQ @Aster.

It isnt that particular phraseology that bothers me but just the fact that theyre advertising at all. I mean this is cancer we’re talking about not a fairly minor elective procedure as @gorillapaws describes. Its the difference between cosmetics and convenience vs. life and death decisions.

And believe me, Im not trying to trivialize the procedure for veins as i know many people benefit greatly from it and its a valid medical need. So, I dont have any negative feelings regarding advertising for that type of service. But its not life and death, after all.

If I were ever faced with having to deal with cancer, either personally or in my family, these guys would not be the first call I would make. Can you imagine how much they must be spending for advertising? That’s money better spent for medical research rather than lining the pockets of an advertising exec. IMHO.

Where I am now, my call would be to Henry Ford or Mayo Clinic. When dealing with life and death decisions, I’d rather start with a place with a longstanding national or worldwide reputation for excellence; the type of facility where people from other states (or even other countries) are willing to travel to assure quality care and expertise.

I might consider these guys for a second opinion (since this is their specialty) but they would need to do some powerful and factual results-based convincing about why I should choose them over Mayo clinic (or Sloan Kettering if in NY) or similar facility.

But, thats my take on it. Others may feel differently.

Interestingly, whenever ive seen those ads, i always regarded them negatively but never really consciously thought about why. This Q helped me put it into words more precisely.