To Örebro University

oru.seÖrebro University Publications
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Commercialising public health during the 1918-1919 Spanish flu pandemic in Britain
Örebro University, School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences. Department of Media and Communication Studies.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-5554-4492
2021 (English)In: Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, ISSN 1755-750X, E-ISSN 1755-7518, Vol. 13, no 3-4, p. 161-187Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Purpose: This paper aims to use the advertisements of three major brands - Chymol, Formamint and Lifebuoy Soap - to examine how advertisers responded to the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic in Great Britain influenza pandemic. It looks particularly at the ways in which marketing strategies changed and how these strategies were enacted in the lexical and semiotic choices (e.g. language, image, colour, typography, texture, materiality, composition and layout) of advertisements.

Design/methodology/approach: A total of 120 advertisements for the three brands were collected from the British Newspaper Archive and analysed using the theory and analytical tools of multimodal critical discourse analysis. The general themes and semiotic structures of the advertisements were identified, with the aim of deconstructing the meaning potentials of verbal and visual resources used to convey ideas about the pandemic, and how they work to shape public understanding of the products and make them appear as effective and credible.

Findings: Each brand rapidly changed their marketing strategy in response to the influenza pandemic, using such techniques as testimonials, hyperbole, scaremongering and pseudoscientific claims to persuade consumers that their products offered protection. Whilst these strategies may appear manipulative, they also had the function of fostering reassurance and sympathy amongst the general public in a moment of turmoil, indicating the important role of brands in building consumer trust and promoting a sense of authority in early twentieth-century Britain.

Originality/value: Exploring the way in which advertisers responded to the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic reminds us of the challenges of distinguishing legitimate and illegitimate medical advice in a fast-moving pandemic and highlights the need to cast a critical eye to the public health information, particularly when it comes from unofficial sources with vested interests.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2021. Vol. 13, no 3-4, p. 161-187
Keywords [en]
Marketing history, Public health, Misinformation, Great Britain, Advertisements, Spanish flu
National Category
Media and Communications History
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-94890DOI: 10.1108/JHRM-12-2020-0058ISI: 000702491100001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85116405123OAI: oai:DiVA.org:oru-94890DiVA, id: diva2:1602742
Available from: 2021-10-13 Created: 2021-10-13 Last updated: 2025-01-31Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textScopus

Authority records

O’Hagan, Lauren Alex

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
O’Hagan, Lauren Alex
By organisation
School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences
In the same journal
Journal of Historical Research in Marketing
Media and CommunicationsHistory

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 52 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf