Why is "supply" greater than "demand?" Why do consumers flock to alternative health gurus such as Deepak Chopra, but otherwise hesitate before the growing herbal medicine selection at their local retailer? The answer may very well lie in "packaging." Spokespeople like Andrew Weil, M.D., author of two recent best-sellers on alternative medicine and a TV personality, are successful in large part because they provide consumers with a way of organizing the vast amount of new information available to them on alternative medicine. The consumers are often confused and even intimidated, and need a helping hand to increase their understanding, change their attitudes, and, finally adapt alternative medicine into their daily lives.

Factors Influencing Consumer Perceptions Today, by reviewing the body of literature from authors like Weil, we can see where many consumers and their practitioners stand in terms of their own understanding of this topic. We can also see what is needed to help fill in the gaps in their perceptions. By reviewing literature currently available on alternative medicine in book stores - either consumer- (i.e. the national chain, Barnes & Noble), medical - (i.e. Stanford Medical School Book Store), alternative healing (i.e. Bodhi Tree Book Store in Los Angeles), or the Internet (i.e. Amazon.com), we found that consumer literature on alternative medicine can be divided into approximately three categories: (1) the changing health care paradigm; (2) healers and their methods; and (3) encyclopedias covering the range of therapies available.

1.The Changing Health Care Paradigm: Drive Toward "Self-care"
In her book, Market Driven Health Care: Who Wins, Who Loses in the Transformation of America's Largest Service Industry (Herzlinger, 1997), Regina Herzlinger, of Harvard Business School, describes a consumer who is increasingly driven toward seeking self-care. They want what she calls "convenience and mastery". She gives examples from the healthcare industry today, such as the view of an advertising executive who notes: "What you're really seeing is a real sea of change in the way people interact with the marketplace. You've got a much smarter, much more seasoned consumer. These are people who go to a [provider] and say, 'Together let's figure out how I can do this myself.'" Indeed, a 1987 report of the American Board of Family Practice, shows that 39% of Americans surveyed described themselves as "working at staying healthy". Further evidence is seen in the rise of how-to-take-care-of-yourself magazines aimed as this "activist" consumer segment, such as Psychology Today, American Health, and Prevention, among others. This drive for self-care is fueling the demand for alternative techniques, many of which transfer control to the user (Herzlinger, 1997).

Other books providing evidence of consumer dissatisfaction with the health care system and their search for more personal responsibility for their health include, InfoMedicine by Baldwin & Mclnerney (1996) and Manifesto for a New Medicine by James S. Gordon (1996), first chairman of the Advisory Council of the Office of Alternative Medicine, as well as Women's Bodies, Women's Minds by Christine Northrup (1995).

2.The Healers and Their Methods
Andrew Weil, Deepak Chopra, and others are best-selling authors who are becoming the self-healer spokespersons of America. They offer clear explanations of their methods, centers that people can associate with "alternative care," and an answer to consumers' insatiable desire for "new-and-improved" or "different." For example, in his recent book, Eight Weeks to Optimum Health (1997, Knopf), Andrew Weil, M.D. takes a consumer step-by-step through experimentations with different aspects of alternative medicine that are available but still puzzling to the consumer. Week-by-week, he touches on new experiments in diet, supplements, exercise, and spirituality. The reader progresses from taking vitamins and eating fresh broccoli in week-one to taking various tonics, and conducting Relaxing Breath exercises twice a day by the end of the program (Weil, 1997). Dr. Weil, while criticized by many of his peers in the medical community for the lack of scientific validity of his work, demonstrates clear marketing talent in making the "product" of alternative medicine approachable by the end-user.