Consumer health education and the problem of television

The ubiquity of television and its ability to reach low income people make it an attractive medium for health education. However, its present influence on health is largely negative due to misleading or inaccurate commercials and program material. Efforts to provide accurate health information on television are difficult because of the financial structure of the industry, a mutual suspicion of health and television people toward each other, and possible legal entanglements involving constitutional issues. This paper suggests four ways which health people should consider in seeking to influence commercial television. None involve legislation, none threaten First Amendment guarantees, and none threaten the profit structure of the industry.