Connoting a neoliberal and entrepreneurial discourse of science through infographics and integrated design: the case of ‘functional’ healthy drinks

Abstract

Riding on the rising concern of public health and the growing neoliberal self-care agenda, the food market has witnessed a surge in 'healthy' food despite the criticism of this food does not help consumers eat more healthily. A growing interest in Critical Discourse Studies (CDS) is how food marketers colonise not only the food discourse but also the broader ideas and values such as health, politics, and environment. Contributing to this growing body of research, we look at one of the fastest-growing food trends, 'functional drinks', which claim to target physiological and psychological processes in the body, so that consumers can manage their health and performance. Company websites rely on forms of infographics to communicate how the products work. Adopting the notion of 'integrated design' from multimodal CDS, we show how these infographics, drawing on their affordances, are particularly useful in symbolising classifications and causalities which could not be accounted for in running texts. The paper argues that this is a way health and science converge with a neoliberal discourse of self-management and enterprise culture. Given the increased use of forms of integrated design in communication, more critical discursive work is needed in this area.

The scientifization of “green” anti-ageing cosmetics in online marketing: a multimodal critical discourse analysis

“…More specifically, we analyse how marketers use these affordances to emphasise the functions and powers of natural ingredients, while still making use of links to science. Social semiotic research on web marketing shows that the affordances of what Machin (2018, 2020) term "integrated design" play a major role to connect products to science (Chen and Eriksson 2021). In line with these ideasand based on an analysis of 27 green cosmetic advertisements from Clarins and Cliniquethis study will show that a detailed and systematic social semiotic approach is crucial towards understanding how this kind of marketing now operates.…”

“…The insights coming from this research are crucial for the present study, but this research focuses mainly on the language of printed ads and does not engage in analysing other semiotic resources such as images, colours, symbols, fonts etc, and how those jointly operate to promote these products. As shown by studies of food marketing, how advertisements are designed, how marketers combine different semiotic resources, is crucial for how science is connoted and associated with products (Chen and Eriksson 2021;cf. 2019).…”

Selling “Healthy” Radium Products With Science: A Multimodal Analysis of Marketing in Sweden, 1910–1940

“…Chen, 2015;Pitrelli et al, 2006), even when these claims are pseudoscientific and implausible, unrealistic and confusing (A. Chen & Eriksson, 2021;Dodds et al, 2008). The knowledge gained through investigating historical data, thus, offers us distance from our current experiences of marketing, thereby giving us more room to develop a critical stance and reflect on contemporary, "science-based" commercial products, such as collagen supplements, nootropic drinks, or activated charcoal, and the hope and promises that come with them.…”

Blinded by science? Constructing truth and authority in early twentieth-century Virol advertisements

“…As asserted throughout this paper, Virol's strategies bear strong parallels with the marketing of radium products, 130 pure foods, 131 nerve foods, 132 vitamins 133 and fruit and vegetables 134 in the same time period, as well as changing strategies to food marketing in response to the Spanish Flu pandemic. 135 Virol's practices also bear striking similarities to neoliberalist rhetoric in contemporary marketing and consumer behaviour, 136 which encourages citizens to take responsibility for their own health to limit the burden they might place upon society. 137 Like today, Virol was successful in using nutrient claims although often unsupported or unverified by credible sourcesto position its products as necessary for a healthy lifestyle and link them to broader societal concerns around motherhood, civic responsibility and national pride.…”