Correspondence: Homer Ronald Moser, Department of Management and Marketing P.O. Box 439 Middle Tennessee State University Murfreesboro Tennessee 37132, USA. Tel: +1 615 898 5584; Fax: +1 615 898 5308; e-mail: romoser@mtsu.edu

¹is a professor of marketing in the Jennings A. Jones College of Business at Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He earned a BS from Tennessee Technological University, an MBA from Middle Tennessee State University, and a doctorate from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He is the author of more than 100 basic and applied research articles, published presentations, and cases in marketing management and related areas. His articles have appeared in the International Journal of Advertising, Journal of Professional Services Marketing, Health Marketing Quarterly, Journal of Hospital Marketing, Journal of Marketing for Higher Education and National Social Science Journal.

Received 4 February 2008; Revised 4 February 2008.

Abstract

Advertising by dentists in the United States is a relatively recent phenomenon. Historically, most professions prohibited licensed members from engaging in speech activities that proposed a commercial transaction — advertising. The history of a dentist's legal right to advertise is, however, not the main focus of this paper. A brief review of the past, present and possible future of such rights might assist readers in understanding the revolutionary constitutional and commercial speech changes that have occurred over the past three decades. A dentist's legal right to advertise in the United States has developed as part of the evolutionary interpretation of the First Amendment of the US Constitution. The purposes of this study were to determine (a) consumers' attitudes toward advertising by dentists and (b) whether age, occupation, family household income and education of the consumer accounted for any significant difference in attitude toward dentists who advertise in the United States. The intent was to discover information that would be useful to dentists in planning marketing strategies and improving the quality of their advertising. The study seems to confirm the belief of many marketing professionals that advertising and marketing clearly have a place in the future of healthcare services.