Eriksson, G. and O'Hagan, L.A. orcid.org/0000-0001-5554-4492 (2021) Selling “healthy” radium products with science : a multimodal analysis of marketing in Sweden, 1910-1940. Science Communication, 43 (6). pp. 740-767. ISSN 1075-5470
Abstract
We study the marketing of radioactive products in Sweden from 1910 to 1940, using a dataset of newspaper and magazine advertisements. We use multimodal critical discourse analysis to show how marketers harnessed the meaning potentials of language and semiotic resources to embed radium in discourses of science and technological development and, thus, convince consumers of its health benefits. We find that canny marketers continuously colonized, shaped and remarketed radioactive products in response to greater scientific knowledge and growing safety concerns. These techniques highlight the challenges of distinguishing legitimate/illegitimate applications of discoveries when science and entrepreneurialism move at the same pace.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 The Author(s). This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). |
Keywords: | history of science; marketing; newspapers; radium; Sweden |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Sociological Studies (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 20 Aug 2021 12:18 |
Last Modified: | 11 Mar 2022 12:24 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/10755470211044111 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:177118 |