Abstract
More and more individuals are turning to the mass media in search of information related to health care. Moreover, health care accounts for an important percentage of modern economies and household expenses. Since the 1990s, this demand has been to a degree satisfied by free healthcare magazines that offer useful advice and information related to health services and wellness. As the article argues, Spain can be a representative case for analyzing the health care magazine phenomenon. Using a methodology based on quantitative and qualitative variables, the article synthesizes the results of a broader research project carried out between 2012 and 2015, focusing on the news content and advertising in three free health and wellness magazines aimed at the general public in Spain: El Periódico de la Farmacia (The Pharmacy Newspaper), Estar bien (Feeling Well), and Health 21 (Salud 21). The conclusions discuss the main features and dimensions of these publications from an educational and social viewpoint, considering their fight for survival in an environment conditioned by financial crisis, competition from online publications, and the decrease in advertising and marketing specializing in health.
Highlights
Issues related to health enjoy a high level of acceptance among the general public, which is logical when one recalls that health is one of the main interests of the citizenry (Shah, 2011)
In El Periódico de la Farmacia, questions related to alimentation and beauty stand out in equal
Following the main hypothesis of the study, the results obtained make it possible to conclude that the free-distribution publications on health and wellness aimed at the general public to fulfill a priority aim: to support the activities of their parent companies in fields outside publishing, directly through advertising and indirectly by educating the public, and arousing its interesting in such questions that are directly related to “quality of life.”
Summary
Issues related to health enjoy a high level of acceptance among the general public, which is logical when one recalls that health is one of the main interests of the citizenry (Shah, 2011). Over the last decades, there has been an increase in health content in all media and media formats, in addition to the appearance of new journals on health and wellness (Salmon & Atkin, 2003). This expansion has been attributed to different circumstances, such as the boom in consumption, the aging of the population or the trend of body worship, and the consumption of information and products on beauty, nutrition, and aesthetics This expansion has been attributed to different circumstances, such as the boom in consumption, the aging of the population or the trend of body worship, and the consumption of information and products on beauty, nutrition, and aesthetics (Peñafiel, Camacho, Aiestaran, Ronco, & Echegaray, 2014, p. 137)
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