Advertising hospice care services.

Many hospices advertise their services, yet the audience may frown upon the commercialization of death. Because research has ignored the content of hospice advertising, I analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively the content of 105 American television commercials. The hospices used four major solutions to invite positive readings. They narrated hospices as salvation, provided empowerment, represented hospices as quality service, and appealed to positive values, including comfort and support. Consequently, the commercials used affective advertising to create an emotional appeal where hospices appeared as solutions to difficult life situations. Consequently, the commercials represented both dying and hospices as potentially positive, and marketable experiences.