Health product advertising through news in lifestyle magazines

Erjavec, Karmen (author), Štular, Katarina (author), Poler Kovačič, Melita (author)

Background: In addition to doctors, the mass media are the key source of information about health issues. It is therefore very important what kind of messages they produce and convey. Some media researchers called attention to paid-for health-related texts, published as editorial content without being labelled as advertisements (now commonly referred to as advertorials). There is a lack of studies investigating the practice of such messages production. Methods: The aim of the study is to fill the gap in this research field by identifying characteristics of unlabelled health-related advertorials and thus give the readers the mechanisms they need to recognise them. Textual analysis of unlabelled health-related advertorials published by three Slovenian lifestyle magazines was combined with an ethnographic study. Results: Textual analysis indicated that readers can recognise advertorials by the partial and positive-only presentation of health-related products/services, which are described and promoted by using synonyms of effectiveness. Observation and in-depth interviews showed that the key actors in the production process are advertisers and newspaper marketing agents. Advertisers want to have control over texts presenting their products/ services. Marketing agents stress poor financial situation of their magazines. News producers claim that they carry out orders given by advertisers and marketing agents. Conclusion: By publishing unlabelled advertorials, lifestyle magazines privilege a pharmaceutical-commercial attitude to health. They promote the pharmaceutical industry by presenting it one-sidedly and in a simplified way, and by ascribing to it the capacity to solve health problems of people in a non-problematic way. A more complex social view of health issues, however, is neglected.

• Language: English
• Work type: Not categorized
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Publisher: Inštitut za varovanje zdravja Republike Slovenije
• Year: 2011
• Number of pages: Str. 153-159
• Numbering: Letn. 50, št. 3
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-55686
• UDC: 659.1:613
• ISSN on article: 0351-0026
• DOI: 10.2478/v10152-010-0039-0
• COBISS.SI-ID: 30435421
• Publication date in RUL: 10.07.2015

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Zdravstveno varstvo. Slovenian journal of public health
• Publisher: Nacionalni inštitut za javno zdravje, Sciendo
• ISSN: 0351-0026
• COBISS.SI-ID: 3287810

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Oglaševanje zdravstvenih izdelkov v obliki novinarskih prispevkov v revijah za življenjski slog

Abstract

Izhodišča: Poleg zdravnikov so množični mediji glavni vir obveščanja ljudi o zdravstvenih temah, zato je pomembno, kakšna so sporočila, ki jih ustvarjajo in posredujejo prebivalstvu. Nekateri raziskovalci medijev so opozorili na pogosto pojavljanje hibridnih prispevkov, ki so nekje med novinarstvom in oglaševanjem zdravstvenih tem. Značilno zanje je, da so jih naročniki plačali,vendar pa so bili objavljeni kot novinarski prispevki in brez oznake, da gre za oglasno sporočilo. Raziskav, ki bi omenjeno problematiko natančneje preučile, je zaenkrat premalo. Metode: Z raziskavo smo želeli zapolniti omenjeno raziskovalno vrzel in razkriti značilnosti neoznačenih hibridnih besedil o zdravju. Na ta način želimo bralcem predstaviti mehanizme, preko katerih bi lahko takšne prispevke tudi prepoznali. V raziskavi smo v treh slovenskih revijah za življenjski slog analizirali vsebino neoznačenih hibridnih prispevkov, ki obravnavajo zdravstveno problematiko. Ugotovitve smo primerjali in obravnavali skupaj z opravljeno etnografsko študijo. Rezultati: Analiziranje obravnavanih besedil je pokazalo, da bralci lahko prepoznajo hibridna besedila na podlagi pristranskih, zgolj pozitivnih lastnosti z zdravjem povezanega proizvoda oz. storitve, oziroma na podlagi opisov, ki izrazito in pogosto omenjajo izraze, povezane z učinkovitostjo. Z opazovanjem in s poglobljenimi intervjuji smo ugotovili, da so glavni akterji produkcijskega procesa oglaševalci in tržni agenti v časopisnih hišah. Oglaševalci želijo nadzor nad vsebinami, ki obravnavajo njihove proizvode oz. storitve. Tržni agenti izpostavljajo šibek finančni položaj svojega medija. Novinarji pa zatrjujejo, da zgolj izpolnjujejo ukaze oglaševalcev in tržnih agentov. Zaključek: Revije za življenjski slog ustvarjajo hibridna besedila, s katerimi poveličujejo farmacevtsko-komercialni pogled na zdravje. Neutemeljeno oglašujejo pomembnost farmacevtske industrije, ki jo predstavljajo enostransko, poenostavljeno in kot tisto, ki neproblematično rešuje zdravstvene probleme ljudi. Bolj celovit družbeni pogled na zdravstveno problematiko pa pri tem ostaja prezrt.