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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2023 Dec 1.
Published in final edited form as: Med Care Res Rev. 2022 Jun 16;79(6):798–810. doi: 10.1177/10775587221101295

Table 2.

Proportion of Marketing Appeals by Ad Language in Enrollment Television Ads Aired January 1 to December 31, 2018.

Overall sample (n = 266,584) English sample (n = 216,815) Spanish sample (n = 49,769)
Marketing appeal and policy references n (%) n (%) n (%)
Product appeals
 Explicit reference to insurance 81,065 (30.4) 72,541 (33.5) 8,524 (17.1)
 Brand/Loyalty 50,336 (18.9) 42,195 (19.5) 8,141 (16.4)
Benefit appeals
 Prescription drugs 96,943 (36.4) 76,946 (35.5) 19,997 (40.2)
 Nonmedical benefits 70,432 (26.4) 64,233 (29.6) 6,199 (12.5)
 Choice of doctor available 68,815 (25.8) 48,206 (22.2) 20,609 (41.4)
 Access to specialists 44,513 (16.7) 38,832 (17.9) 5,681 (11.4)
 Wellness programs 27,487 (10.3) 27,487 (12.7) 0 (0.0)
ACA-policy-related references
 Financial assistance/subsidies/tax credits available 51,195 (19.2) 40,503 (18.7) 10,692 (21.5)
 Mention of “Marketplace” 27,730 (10.4) 25,172 (11.6) 2,558 (5.1)
 Mention of “government” 4,648 (1.7) 4,553 (2.1) 95 (0.2)
 Mention of “ACA” or “Obamacare” 3,236 (1.2) 2,151 (1.0) 1,085 (2.2)
 Avoiding penalties 886 (0.3) 122 (0.1) 764 (1.5)
 Lower cost plans cheaper/better than ACA 318 (0.1) 318 (0.2) 0 (0.0)

Note. Statistical tests between English and Spanish samples were calculated using logistic regression with English-sample ads as the reference group controlling for ad length. All differences were statistically significant for non-zero cells at 0.001. ACA = Affordable Care Act.