The hypocrisy of the year award has got to go to CBS. If you remember, there was quite a protest by pro-choice organizations about CBS’ decision to air during the Super Bowl an ad featuring Tim Tebow, paid for by Focus on the Family—a politically influential evangelical group founded by James Dobson. The ad, whose slogan is "Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life," features Tebow—who wrapped up his University of Florida career with a Sugar Bowl win this month—and his mom, Pam.

Pam reminisces about being pregnant with Tim while on a missionary trip in the Philippines. She fell ill and was advised to have an abortion. She ignored the advice, and the rest is BCS Championship history.

There was a call from a large number of women’s advocacy organizations to pull the Tebow ads. But, in an interview with Reuters, CBS spokesman Dana McClintock said that they no longer had a blanket filter on advocacy submissions for ad slots. "We have for some time moderated our approach to advocacy submissions after it became apparent that our stance did not reflect public sentiment or industry norms on the issue.”

But what about the commercial CBS turned down for airing in the Super Bowl—an ad for GoDaddy.com, in which a retired football player "finds his feminine side" and launches a lingerie company? And, in early February, the CBS Corporation and Neutron Media Screen Marketing rejected a paid advertisement from the NORML Foundation, the educational arm of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) that was intended to appear on the CBS Super Screen billboard in New York City's Times Square.

The fifteen-second ad, which asserts that taxing and regulating the adult use and sale of marijuana would raise billions of dollars in national revenue, was scheduled to appear on CBS' 42nd Street digital billboard beginning on Monday, February 1, 2010.

Representatives from Neutron Media approached NORML in mid-January about placing the ad, which was scheduled to air 18 times per day for a two-month period. The NORML Foundation entered into a contractual agreement with Neutron Media to air two separate NORML advertisements, and produced an initial ad exclusively for broadcast on the CBS digital billboard. Days after NORML submitted the ad, the organization received the following e-mail, dated February 3, from a Neutron Media representative which stated, "I just received word from CBS and they will not approve your ad. If CBS changes their morals we will let you know."

I think all ads should run—regardless of their advocacy position. So, in the interests of equal time, see the GoDaddy.com ad at http://outofbounds.nbcsports.com/2010/01/post-168.html.php). NORML's 15-second animated advertisement is available online here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tqW9Kj8DVU.   

Ready or not, tech-enabled consumerism continues to morph the relationship between professionals and the consumers they serve. I've written before about both the move to on-line ratings services for health care professionals (RateMDs; RevolutionHealth; Vitals.com; DrScore.com; HealthGrades.com; MDNationwide.org; ConsumerHealthRatings.com; and Rehabio) and the on-line web sites that sell excess professional capacity by the minute (ETherapistsOnline; MyTherapyNet; WebAddictionTreatment.org; and AsktheInternetTherapist.com). These categories of health care marketing organizations represent something akin to American Idol and HOTELS.COM in the health and human market space. Well, the push of technology is taking this one step further—we now have the progeny of when eBay meets health care.

The eBay of health care may soon be PriceDoc.com. The company just received a U.S. patent on its soon-to-be-released system for on-line bidding on health services which will, according to their press release, make "PriceDoc.com the only online site where patients can "make an offer" for healthcare services with verified providers." The initial focus of PriceDoc is consumers who are uninsured, underinsured or seeking elective procedures with provider organizations and professionals who accept cash or credit card payments. (The service categories on their web site include dental, medical, vision, cosmetic, mental health, weight loss, allied health, and alternative health.)

You may think this type of purchasing model couldn't change the health care space. But don't forget eBay, founded in 1995 selling office equipment and plane tickets; had 250,000 transactions in 1996; and by January 1997 the site hosted 2,000,000 auctions. Bottom line? We can’t rule anything out when it comes to which tech trends will shape the sector. Stay tuned.