Medicalization, Pharmaceutical Promotion, and the Internet: A Critical Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Hair Loss Websites

    March 2013 in “ Social Semiotics ”
    Kevin Harvey
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    TLDR Commercial hair loss websites promote Propecia by making men feel insecure about baldness and suggesting it's a medical issue needing treatment.
    The document from 2013 critically examines how commercial hair loss websites use multimodal discourse strategies to medicalize male pattern baldness and promote the pharmaceutical treatment Propecia. The study analyzed 68 web pages from eight websites, accessed between January 2010 and December 2011, and found that these sites depict balding men negatively, promote the attractiveness of men with hair, frame hair loss within a scientific discourse, and encourage self-evaluation of hair loss. The websites use visual and textual elements to portray hair loss as a medical problem that requires treatment, often inducing anxiety to encourage the use of Propecia. The study suggests that this approach not only medicalizes a natural process but also potentially induces insecurity in men, pushing them towards pharmaceutical solutions rather than acceptance of the condition. The document calls for further research into the strategies used by pharmaceutical companies to promote their products by medicalizing natural life processes.
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