The Social Media Industry as a Commercial Determinant of Health

Zenone, Marco; Kenworthy, Nora; Maani, Nason

doi:10.34172/ijhpm.2022.6840

Cited by 20 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Corporations were accused of promoting excessive consumption of harmful products, for example, by engaging in intensive and highly-resourced marketing campaigns that normalize their consumption (e.g., portraying alcohol as part of a normal everyday routine [84]) [12,18,36,42,47,51,63,65,72–74,84–99]. They were reported to influence the public debate about product related-risks by reframing and creating uncertainty about the causes of health issues (e.g., focusing on genetic causes of cancer as opposed to alcohol consumption [100]) [18,20,27,28,31,32,34,36,37,40–42,44,46,48,50–52,56–58,64,65,75,76,79,81,101–104] and acquiring or funding media companies, making it more difficult for public health messages to be heard [20,45,48,49,65,72]. Though commercial entities promoted education as the solution to managing health-related risks [20,45,51,58,66,68,74,80], they were also accused of attempting to shape the public’s understanding of health issues by providing educational resources that promoted their products and/or downplayed the associated health risks (e.g., alcohol [61,62]) [19,20,36,51,63,65,68,80,84,100].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, the ubiquity of fast-food outlets and the provision of free BMS in clinics was seen as increasing consumption of these products [36,74,88,110,111]. The features of products were also discussed, such as the hyper-palatable nature of ultra-processed foods [93] and the hyper-engagement features of social media (e.g., endless scroll) [64], which were seen as promoting behaviour some authors described as addictive. Liber [112] discussed some health-promoting products (e.g., vaccines) and suggested that regulation focus on expanding these markets while contracting the markets for health-harming products (e.g., alcohol).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They demonstrated that Coca Cola successfully built a relationship with a senior CDC official, which they leveraged in an attempt to avoid restrictions on sugar-sweetened beverages supported by the World Health Organization.Corporate strategies to stop, delay, or weaken proposed health policies were also frequently discussed. For example, corporations were reported to push for self-regulation schemes[12,18,20,27,31,32,39,49,[51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68] and to threaten litigation and/or use existing trade treaties to challenge proposed health legislation[19,67,[69][70][71][72][73][74]. They were reported to engage in a wide breadth of argumentative strategies to challenge proposed health policies.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Corporate activities that influence population health: A scoping review and qualitative synthesis to develop the HEALTH-CORP typology

Burgess,

Nyhan,

Freudenberg

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Introduction: The concept of the commercial determinants of health (CDH) is used to study the actions (and associated structures) of commercial entities that influence population health and health equity. The aim of this study was to develop a typology that describes the diverse set of activities through which corporations influence population health and health equity across industries. Methods: We conducted a scoping review of articles using CDH terms (n=116) that discuss corporate activities that can influence population health and health equity across 16 industries. We used the qualitative constant comparison method to build a typology called the Corporate Influences on Population Health (HEALTH-CORP) typology. Results: The HEALTH-CORP typology identifies 70 corporate activities that can influence health across industries and categorizes them into seven domains of corporate influence (e.g., political practices, employment practices). We present a model that situates these domains based on their proximity to health outcomes and identify five population groups (e.g., workers, local communities) to consider when evaluating corporate health impacts. Discussion: The HEALTH-CORP typology facilitates an understanding of the diverse set of corporate activities that can influence population health and the population groups affected by these activities. We discuss the utility of these contributions in terms of identifying interventions to address the CDH and advancing efforts to measure and monitor the CDH. We also leverage our findings to identify key gaps in CDH literature and suggest avenues for future research.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Corporate activities that influence population health: A scoping review and qualitative synthesis to develop the HEALTH-CORP typology

Burgess,

Nyhan,

Freudenberg

et al. 2024

Preprint

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“…Fully acting upon the issue of misleading advertisements requires examining and confronting the conflict of interest between social media business interests and public health [ 81 ]. In the case of misleading health advertisements, this is only a single symptom of a larger infrastructure in pursuit of profit [ 82 , 83 ], and it is at odds with public health objectives.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advertising Alternative Cancer Treatments and Approaches on Meta Social Media Platforms: Content Analysis

Zenone¹,

Snyder²,

Bélisle-Pipon³

et al. 2023

JMIR Infodemiology

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Background Alternative cancer treatment is associated with a greater risk of death than cancer patients undergoing conventional treatments. Anecdotal evidence suggests cancer patients view paid advertisements promoting alternative cancer treatment on social media, but the extent and nature of this advertising remain unknown. This context suggests an urgent need to investigate alternative cancer treatment advertising on social media. Objective This study aimed to systematically analyze the advertising activities of prominent alternative cancer treatment practitioners on Meta platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Audience Network. We specifically sought to determine (1) whether paid advertising for alternative cancer treatment occurs on Meta social media platforms, (2) the strategies and messages of alternative cancer providers to reach and appeal to prospective patients, and (3) how the efficacy of alternative treatments is portrayed. Methods Between December 6, 2021, and December 12, 2021, we collected active advertisements from alternative cancer clinics using the Meta Ad Library. The information collected included identification number, URL, active/inactive status, dates launched/ran, advertiser page name, and a screenshot (image) or recording (video) of the advertisement. We then conducted a content analysis to determine how alternative cancer providers communicate the claimed benefits of their services and evaluated how they portrayed alternative cancer treatment efficacy. Results We identified 310 paid advertisements from 11 alternative cancer clinics on Meta (Facebook, Instagram, or Messenger) marketing alternative treatment approaches, care, and interventions. Alternative cancer providers appealed to prospective patients through eight strategies: (1) advertiser representation as a legitimate medical provider (n=289, 93.2%); (2) appealing to persons with limited treatments options (n=203, 65.5%); (3) client testimonials (n=168, 54.2%); (4) promoting holistic approaches (n=121, 39%); (5) promoting messages of care (n=81, 26.1%); (6) rhetoric related to science and research (n=72, 23.2%); (7) rhetoric pertaining to the latest technology (n=63, 20.3%); and (8) focusing treatment on cancer origins and cause (n=43, 13.9%). Overall, 25.8% (n=80) of advertisements included a direct statement claiming provider treatment can cure cancer or prolong life. Conclusions Our results provide evidence alternative cancer providers are using Meta advertising products to market scientifically unsupported cancer treatments. Advertisements regularly referenced “alternative” and “natural” treatment approaches to cancer. Imagery and text content that emulated evidence-based medical providers created the impression that the offered treatments were effective medical options for cancer. Advertisements exploited the hope of patients with terminal and poor prognoses by sharing testimonials of past patients who allegedly were cured or had their lives prolonged. We recommend that Meta introduce a mandatory, human-led authorization process that is not reliant upon artificial intelligence for medical-related advertisers before giving advertising permissions. Further research should focus on the conflict of interest between social media platforms advertising products and public health.

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“…The attention given to these sectors is understandable, given the significant burden of morbidity and mortality associated with their production and consumption. Over time, the CDoH field has turned its attention to the role of other sectors of the economy, including gambling, 2 firearms, 3 incarceration, 4 social media, 5 automobiles 6 and more. The field has also evolved to recognise other pathways through which commercial actors influence health beyond the products in their portfolios, including tax avoidance 7 or the “extractive injustice” of land acquisitions by powerful multinationals in low income countries 8 .…”

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confidence: 99%