What Is Disease Mongering And Why Is It Used In Marketing?

The core of life science marketing is advertising the discoveries that have been found in the medical profession and turning these incredible pieces of research into products that people and organisations can buy.

Like other research-driven industries, it is all about selling the solution to society’s ills, although in most cases with the life sciences, this should be taken very literally.

In some cases, the researchers who discover the solution also find the problem in the first place, and whilst this is generally a very important part of the life cycle of healthcare and medicine, there are times when this process goes too far.

One of the biggest problems that emerges as a result of this is that there is a fine line between diagnosing a new condition that was previously unknown or not entirely understood and disease mongering, where typical human experiences are reclassified as abnormal diseases in need of treatment.

It can be difficult to tell the difference but here are two examples of this concept in action, the first being the medicalisation of what was previously a social issue and the other being a well-known successful example of disease mongering.

The first was the incredibly successful early marketing of sildenafil as Viagra, which worked by effectively pathologising a condition treated at the time as a personal flaw or social condition. 

Before former United States presidential nominee Bob Dole discussed erectile dysfunction, the condition was known as impotence and treated not as a medical condition but as a social stigma. 

In this context, medicalisation not only helped sell the medication but also had a positive social effect.

By contrast, halitosis is a typical human experience or symptom of other conditions that are treated as a medical condition by companies that sell breath mints and mouthwashes such as Listerine in an attempt to sell more products.