Evidence of Biased Advertising in the Case of Social Egg Freezing

• Published in: The new bioethics Vol. 23; no. 3; pp. 195 - 209
• Main Author: Barbey, Christopher
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Routledge 02.09.2017
• Subjects: advertising; assisted reproductive technologies; Bioethics; egg freezing; fertility; advertising; egg freezing; fertility; assisted reproductive technologies
• ISSN: 2050-2877; 2050-2885
• DOI: 10.1080/20502877.2017.1396033

Oocyte cryopreservation, or 'egg freezing,' is the practice of preserving unfertilised oocytes for later fertilisation. This practice allows women to extend their reproductive years. In 2014, Facebook and Apple announced that they would subsidise their female employees' elective - or 'social' - use of egg freezing so that these women can more easily reconcile the demands of career and family life. This announcement engendered controversy and moral debate. Given that social egg freezing (SEF) is becoming more popular, ethical and empirical analyses are warranted. Here, I utilise content analysis to examine media messages in advertising for SEF. I conclude that many fertility clinics engage in biased advertising - i.e. they advertise the service persuasively, not informatively, emphasising indirect benefits while minimising risks and the low chance of successfully bringing a child to term. As advertising for medical services has been shown to influence the use of those services, advertising for SEF should emphasise clear and easily interpretable statistics about success rate, usage rate, cost, and risk.