Gender and images of heart disease in Scandinavian drug advertising.
OBJECTIVE
This study examines the construction of the "heart disease candidate" in advertisements for cardiovascular drugs in Scandinavian medical journals.


METHODS
All advertisements for cardiovascular drugs (n = 603) in Scandinavian medical journals (Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden) in 2005 were collected. Only advertisements that portray users (n = 289, 48% of the advertisements) were analyzed.


RESULTS
The results show that coronary candidacy is constructed as a male condition in half of the advertisements for cardiovascular drugs. The advertisements suggest a gendering of heart disease: men are the major victims of heart failure and cardiac insufficiency, and women are in need of cholesterol-lowering drugs. The cardiovascular drug advertisements portray a restoration of men's hyperactive agency, valorized by means of sporty images, by drawing on masculinity as a fixed trait and behavior. Hypercholesterolemia as a woman's disease reproduces the tyranny of slimness for women: Only women's stoutness is medicalized, and there are no pictures of heavy men.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings point to the public health implications of gendered images of coronary candidacy in medical advertising.
Riska
Elianne
E
Swedish School of Social Science, University of Helsinki, Finland. elianne.riska@helsinki.fi
Heikell
Thomas
T
D000329:Advertising; D002317:Cardiovascular Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003718:Denmark; D004345:Drug Industry; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006266:Health Education; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009664:Norway; D012737:Sex Factors; D012933:Social Identification; D013548:Sweden; D016387:Women's Health
D002317:Cardiovascular Agents