The ER Effect

Executive Summary

Some physicians report an "ER effect:" patients who come into their offices on the Friday following the Thursday night showing of the hit NBC show, describing symptoms or talking about problems that were featured on the hit television program, which also on occasion references particular new drugs or devices. ER tries not to think of what they do as product placement and, in fact, there are strict FCC guidelines as to what TV programs can do in featuring specific products, which elicited a hostile response from one ER executive interviewed on this subject.