This study investigates current opinions about hospital advertising and compares them to the attitudes expressed 25 years ago. It replicates a survey done in 1985, using the same questionnaire and population to compare responses longitudinally. The study indicates some changes in the public's opinions of hospital advertising. Although the image of hospitals remains positive, most of the 2010 respondents' opinions were rather mixed regarding whether it is proper for hospitals to advertise. The study also confirmed that the quality of service and reputation of hospitals remain more important to the public than price.

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This article represents the responses of 430 individuals to a mail survey examining views concerning advertising by hospitals. Historically, most professions prohibited licensed members from engaging in speech activities that proposed a commercial transaction, that is, advertising. However, the history of a hospital's legal right to advertise is not the main focus of this article. A brief review of the past, present, and possible future of such rights might assist readers in understanding the revolutionary constitutional and commercial speech changes that have occurred over the past three decades. A hospital's legal right to advertise has developed as part of the evolutionary interpretation of the First Amendment of the US Constitution. The purposes of this study were to determine (a) the public's attitudes toward advertising by hospitals and (b) whether age, education, gender, marital status, number of children in household, occupation, race, and total family household income of an individual accounted for any significant differences in attitudes regarding hospitals that advertise.