Gendering the migraine market: do representations of illness matter?
Migraine is a common, debilitating and costly disorder. Yet help-seeking for and rates of diagnosis of migraine are low. Drawing on ethnographic observations of pharmaceutical marketing practices at professional headache conferences and a content analysis of migraine advertising, principally in the USA, this paper demonstrates: (1) that the pharmaceutical industry directs its marketing of migraine medication to women; and (2) as part of this strategy, pharmaceutical advertisements portray women as the prototypical migraine sufferer, through representations that elicit hegemonic femininity. This strategy creates the impression that migraine is a "women's disorder", which, in turn, exacerbates gender bias in help seeking and diagnosis of migraine and reifies presumptions about the epidemiology of the disorder. I conclude that these pharmaceutical marketing practices have a paradoxical effect: even as they educate and raise awareness about migraine, they also create barriers to help seeking and diagnosis.
Kempner
Joanna
J
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. jkempner@umich.edu
D000329:Advertising / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends*; D004345:Drug Industry; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006266:Health Education; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019365:Metaphor; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology; D012737:Sex Factors; D014363:Tryptamines / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D016387:Women's Health
D014363:Tryptamines