Reclaiming the narrative

Countering harmful commercial discourses

Bibliographic Data

ID22944733
AuthorsMay Ci Van Schalkwyk (0000-0003-2210-2289, Department of Health Services Research and Policy, Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine , 15-17 Tavistock Place, London WC1H 9SH, corresponding author), Nason Maani (0000-0002-3398-0688, University of Edinburgh), Brian Hawkins (0000-0002-7027-8046, University of Cambridge), Susannah H Mayhew (0000-0002-2433-3809, MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge, Addenbrookes Hospital , Hills Rd, Cambridge CB2 0QQ), Mark Petticrew (0000-0002-6378-5517, Department of Public Health, Environments and Society, Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine , 15-17 Tavistock Place, London WC1H 9SH), Katherine Buse (0000-0002-5485-0110, Global Health 50/50 , The Guildhall Market Square, Cambridge CB2 3QJ ,), Kent Buse (Global Health 50/50 , The Guildhall Market Square, Cambridge CB2 3QJ)
Year2024
Volume39
Issue6
Publication date2024-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHealth Promotion International (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0957-4824 • E-ISSN: 1460-2245
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/heapro/daae182
PMID39657150
OpenAlexW4405224380
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited38

The discourses promoted by powerful commercial actors whose business activities are damaging to health undermine the potential for the transformational changes urgently needed to address pressing public health and environmental threats globally. This piece provides an analysis of corporate discursive practices and the mechanisms through which they contaminate scientific and policy debates and harm public and environmental health. We refer to this phenomenon as ‘discursive pollution’ to reflect the parallels between the effects of informational strategies and the commercial activities of harmful industries. It aims to contribute to the literature on the commercial determinants of health by offering a cross-industry perspective of discursive practices and the contradictions that underpin industry-favourable discourses. We propose how the health community can facilitate the construction of alternative discourses by revealing the contradictions and assumptions underpinning industry-favourable discourses.

Art · Environmental health · Literature · Narrative · Political science · Sociology · Gender Studies · Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology · Medicine · Psychology

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Open DOIOpen Access