Peddling a semiotics of fear: a critical examination of scare tactics and commercial strategies in public health promotion
This study critically examines the ways in which the nationwide Diabetes UK/Tesco public health promotion campaign (2013-2014) sought to raise awareness of Type 2 diabetes. Conducting a multimodal critical discourse analysis of six campaign images, we identify the presence of fear-inducing, stigmati...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis
2015
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32617/ |
| _version_ | 1848794450315182080 |
|---|---|
| author | Brookes, Gavin Harvey, Kevin |
| author_facet | Brookes, Gavin Harvey, Kevin |
| author_sort | Brookes, Gavin |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This study critically examines the ways in which the nationwide Diabetes UK/Tesco public health promotion campaign (2013-2014) sought to raise awareness of Type 2 diabetes. Conducting a multimodal critical discourse analysis of six campaign images, we identify the presence of fear-inducing, stigmatising and commercial strategies, through which the campaign emphasises the dangers of diabetes and advocates personal responsibility for assessing both individual and others’ risk of the disease. Specifically, three discursive techniques are deployed in this campaign to achieve these ends: (1) the depiction of grief and amplification of diabetes-related danger, (2) the promotion of diabetes risk and responsibilization of individuals for their health, and (3) the commercial branding and framing of the Diabetes UK/Tesco partnership as providing tools for diabetes prevention and management. Our findings raise concerns about the moral legitimacy of using fear-inducing and commercial strategies in public health campaigns, strategies which do little to address the environmental factors which are associated with increasing rates of the disease. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:16:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-32617 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:16:23Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-326172020-05-04T16:57:59Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32617/ Peddling a semiotics of fear: a critical examination of scare tactics and commercial strategies in public health promotion Brookes, Gavin Harvey, Kevin This study critically examines the ways in which the nationwide Diabetes UK/Tesco public health promotion campaign (2013-2014) sought to raise awareness of Type 2 diabetes. Conducting a multimodal critical discourse analysis of six campaign images, we identify the presence of fear-inducing, stigmatising and commercial strategies, through which the campaign emphasises the dangers of diabetes and advocates personal responsibility for assessing both individual and others’ risk of the disease. Specifically, three discursive techniques are deployed in this campaign to achieve these ends: (1) the depiction of grief and amplification of diabetes-related danger, (2) the promotion of diabetes risk and responsibilization of individuals for their health, and (3) the commercial branding and framing of the Diabetes UK/Tesco partnership as providing tools for diabetes prevention and management. Our findings raise concerns about the moral legitimacy of using fear-inducing and commercial strategies in public health campaigns, strategies which do little to address the environmental factors which are associated with increasing rates of the disease. Taylor & Francis 2015-01-01 Article PeerReviewed Brookes, Gavin and Harvey, Kevin (2015) Peddling a semiotics of fear: a critical examination of scare tactics and commercial strategies in public health promotion. Social Semiotics, 25 (1). pp. 57-80. ISSN 1470-1219 commercialisation of health diabetes health promotion fear and risk neoliberalism critical multimodal discourse analysis http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10350330.2014.988920 doi:10.1080/10350330.2014.988920 doi:10.1080/10350330.2014.988920 |
| spellingShingle | commercialisation of health diabetes health promotion fear and risk neoliberalism critical multimodal discourse analysis Brookes, Gavin Harvey, Kevin Peddling a semiotics of fear: a critical examination of scare tactics and commercial strategies in public health promotion |
| title | Peddling a semiotics of fear: a critical examination of scare tactics and commercial strategies in public health promotion |
| title_full | Peddling a semiotics of fear: a critical examination of scare tactics and commercial strategies in public health promotion |
| title_fullStr | Peddling a semiotics of fear: a critical examination of scare tactics and commercial strategies in public health promotion |
| title_full_unstemmed | Peddling a semiotics of fear: a critical examination of scare tactics and commercial strategies in public health promotion |
| title_short | Peddling a semiotics of fear: a critical examination of scare tactics and commercial strategies in public health promotion |
| title_sort | peddling a semiotics of fear: a critical examination of scare tactics and commercial strategies in public health promotion |
| topic | commercialisation of health diabetes health promotion fear and risk neoliberalism critical multimodal discourse analysis |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32617/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32617/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32617/ |