I don't know- as a cancer "survivor" (for now at least, fingers crossed) and a doctor, I don't think there's any clear answer. As a doctor, I hate the false hopes and false promises that these ads spread. But yet, I think it would have been nice to believe in such slogans when I saw them in the hallways and entrances of the hospital where I had my surgeries and chemo, to take comfort in the idea that I had people "fighting" alongside me. But I had UpToDate telling me my exact chances instead. The illusions that are spun by our fellow doctors to soften blows do not fool us. Perhaps that is just me.

All medical advertising in general should be banned. But of all the advertisements around, this I am conflicted about. There is so much about the interplay between mind and medicine that we just don't know. A positive, hopeful attitude may well be the difference between life and death for some people, or between tolerating full doses of chemo and pulling out because the constant nausea got too bad.