Healthy Skepticism Library item: 13721

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Riska E, Heikell T.
Gender and images of heart disease in Scandinavian drug advertising.
Scand J Public Health 2007; 35:(6):585-90
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all?content=10.1080/14034940701349233

Abstract:

AIMS: This study examines the construction of the “heart disease candidate” in advertisements for cardiovascular drugs in Scandinavian medical journals.

METHODS: All advertisements for cardiovascular drugs (n = 603) in Scandinavian medical journals (Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden) in 2005 were collected. Only advertisements that portray users (n = 289, 48% of the advertisements) were analyzed.

RESULTS: The results show that coronary candidacy is constructed as a male condition in half of the advertisements for cardiovascular drugs. The advertisements suggest a gendering of heart disease: men are the major victims of heart failure and cardiac insufficiency, and women are in need of cholesterol-lowering drugs. The cardiovascular drug advertisements portray a restoration of men’s hyperactive agency, valorized by means of sporty images, by drawing on masculinity as a fixed trait and behavior. Hypercholesterolemia as a woman’s disease reproduces the tyranny of slimness for women: Only women’s stoutness is medicalized, and there are no pictures of heavy men.

CONCLUSIONS: The findings point to the public health implications of gendered images of coronary candidacy in medical advertising.

Keywords:
Advertising; gender; heart disease; pharmaceutical industry MeSH Terms: Advertising as Topic* Cardiovascular Agents/therapeutic use* Denmark Drug Industry* Female Finland Health Education Heart Diseases/drug therapy* Humans Male Norway Portraits as Topic Sex Factors Social Identification Sweden Women's Health Substances: Cardiovascular Agents