By Kimberly Reeves
June 14, 1999

Advertisers have capitalized on the public’s familiarity with nurses for decades, using the profession’s image of care and competence to hawk everything from prescription drugs to doughnuts.

Historically, nurses have played one of two roles in advertising: the caring mother figure or the faithful sidekick to husband or physician. Rarely have nurses been seen as competent professionals or respected authorities, said Sandy Lewenson, RN, a nurse-historian at Pace University in Pleasantville, N.Y.

“I think we’re seeing that change,” Lewenson said. “The public trusts nurses, and I think advertisers have come to realize that.”

Public trust

Jeannette Duerr, who served stints as the director of public relations for the University of Maryland School of Nursing and the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, has used nurses in a number of her campaigns, especially those dealing with public awareness issues such as breast-feeding or parenting skills.

“Rightly or wrongly, the perception of patients is that nurses spend more time with them than a doctor, that nurses are more interested in them as a whole person rather than a group of symptoms,” said Duerr, now a vice president at Cornerstone, an advertising firm in Baltimore. “I would say from my 25 years in health communications that nurses are some of our most trusted professionals.”

Liberty Mutual Insurance is using two nurses among the 17 employees featured in its current $30 million advertising campaign, which the company has dubbed “The Experts.” In one 30-second radio spot, on-site nurse case manager Kristy Baum, RN, talks about her 50 jobs in the past year, the 50 different professions—from airline pilot to chicken farmer—of the people she has helped put back to work after debilitating injuries. The campaign’s goal is to present Liberty Mutual as a caring place with concerned people and “to go beyond the typical impression of an insurance company as just a big building where they take in money and pay claims,” said Lynn Newton, an advertising account manager with Liberty Mutual.

Baum, based in Louisville, Ky., said in ad campaigns it’s important to connect with the public as a concerned individual rather than someone who is simply out to protect the employer’s bottom line. “I think that nurses carry that caring attitude into our ads,” Baum said. “If nothing else, my presence in these ads has raised a lot of questions about the role a nurse can play in this setting.”

To kick off a recent multi-million dollar ad campaign, French vision-correction company Essilor International created Nurse Nancy, a registered nurse featured in both print ads and 30-second television spots.

“We talk about the comfort of better vision, knowing you’re going to see well no matter what circumstances you’re in,” said Cynthia Lee-Ryden, director of strategic brand management for Essilor. “Nurses have very fast-paced jobs. They’re running from the time they get in until the time they leave, and they have to be able to see well.”

Stereotypes still exist

Still, as nurses take two steps forward, some advertising campaigns push them one step back. Colleen Shaddox, who coordinates public relations for the Yale University School of Nursing, is incensed at the new Dunkin’ Donuts commercial in which a man in a hospital bed is dreaming about a sponge bath from a sexy nurse with tousled blond hair. Instead, he wakes up to find an ugly woman standing over him with a bowl of lumpy oatmeal, asking if he’s ready for his sponge bath. The man can do nothing but grimace.

Nurse stereotypes are used more often than they should be, Shaddox said. “I think that nursing is seen as the quintessentially female profession,” said Shaddox, pointing to the many nurses who are used as props or love interests on afternoon soap operas. “All the stereotypes associated with women are magnified when it comes to nursing.”

But Shaddox sees a growing respect for nurses. Nurses are assuming bigger roles on television dramas and are being quoted more frequently as authorities on healthcare issues, she said. “I do think there’s hope on the horizon.”