Rethinking the ‘wellness influencer’
Medical doctors, lifestyle expertise and the question of credentials
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12601899 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Rachel O’neill (0000-0002-6724-1760, London School of Economics and Political Science, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 685-701 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-06 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Cultural Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1367-8779 • E-ISSN: 1460-356X |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/13678779241307032 |
| PMID | 40224619 |
| OpenAlex | W4406127895 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 21 |
Medical doctors are central to existing networks for wellness content on Instagram in and beyond the UK, yet remain overlooked within scholarship concerned with this terrain. Taking a case study approach, this article examines three such figures prominent in the UK context. In doing so, it challenges existing conceptualisations of the 'wellness influencer' and argues for an expanded understanding of the category, one that does not assume its representatives are 'lay' persons without recognised expertise in health and well-being. The analysis developed demonstrates that credentials cannot resolve the problems associated to wellness influencing as a genre and, as such, the entry of medical doctors to the ranks of social media celebrity may not be the 'fix' it is often imagined to be. Ultimately, I argue that medically qualified wellness influencers extend doctors' role in the 'regulation of lifestyle', and make the case for attending to their ideological operations
Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Medicine · Obesity and Health Practices
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| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 6 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |