Abstract

Instagram. Specifically, this MRP examines the visual social media marketing techniques utilized by vitamin supplement companies in health images on Instagram, and the images communicated messages and implications. Through a qualitative content analysis case study approach, two vitamin supplement companies Instagram images were analyzed and compared: Sugar Bear Hair and Ritual. An image analysis guided by Roland Barthes semiotic theory of myth was conducted on 20 images posted on each company’s Instagram profile on and before April 1, 2019. The results suggest that health brands use a variety of visual marketing techniques to market their brands and products to users on social media, such as colours, influencers, and computer-generated imagery. In addition, the communicated messages in health images, or the “Barthian” myths as referred to in this study, exaggerate and differ from the scientific evidence surrounding the efficacy of vitamin supplements. Lastly, the myths derived from the images have the potential to confuse consumers, which may lead to health repercussions. This research contributes to the field of health communications as it builds upon literature that has found that marketing health via traditional and social media can be misleading and that organizations and brands on social media can do more to communicate necessary and accurate health messages.

Highlights

  • In the era of social media, images must look picture-perfect

  • RQ1: How do health companies visually market their products and brands on Instagram? To answer the first research question, the denotations from the semiotic analysis of Sugar Bear Hair’s and Ritual’s Instagram images have been drawn, as the analysis revealed the visual signs and symbols utilized for marketing

  • The myths either exaggerate or differ from the scientific evidence surrounding the efficacy of vitamin supplements, as Sugar Bear Hair and Ritual appear to communicate myths that connote their supplements as something other or more than scientific evidence can prove

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Summary

Introduction

In the era of social media, images must look picture-perfect. Organizations and brands from varying industries are utilizing social media, all looking to catch the eyes of audiences in different ways. Perhaps one of the least expected industries on social media is the health industry—a conglomerate of organizations and brands that provide or sell health-related services and products. The advent of the social media has provided a new arena for health communications, as it “provides large opportunity for health promotion, enabling public health professionals to reach out far and wide and directly to the public” Social media provides large opportunity for health brands to reach potential consumers with their health products and services. To use social media effectively, organizations and brands are advised to carefully choose their strategies because social media content can be short lived and grabbing the attention of a vast audience is a challenge that public health agencies can face (Gupta et al, 2013, p. 301)

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