NPR. This is the indicator from Planet Money. I'm Darren Woods.

And I'm Whelan Wong. You know, it is hard to get away from advertising. We even have ads on this show.

Hey, don't call the ads, they're sponsorship messages. Oh yes yes my

mistake but Rebecca Malinowski is the kind of person who really tries to ignore any

kind of marketing message. I feel like I somewhat studiously avoid looking at advertisements.

You want to advertise to me? No, thank you. But today, Rebecca is getting ads that are

difficult to ignore and that's because of where she's seeing them.

She told us about a time when she booked a telehealth appointment with her primary care physician.

And before the visit, she got a text on her phone with a link to check-in.

And I clicked it and went through this lengthy check-in process,

and then it said that I was going to be redirected to

educational content from my provider.

Educational content in this case was some kind of drug advertisement.

Rebecca didn't pay any attention.

But then Rebecca's partner had a telehealth appointment at the same practice and when he checked in he got an ad for anti-anxiety medication.

I definitely think what my partner's talk was related to his medical history.

And it is not related to what his appointment coming up was about.

It turns out that Rebecca's instincts are correct.

The online check-in system at her doctor's office

uses patient's personal health information to target them with personalized ads.

And this is a growing area of advertising that... to target them with personalized ads.

And this is a growing area of advertising that marketers say helps patients by giving them useful information.

...