Abstract
The Morhange talc affair was mediatised by television from 1972. The health scandal brought to light issues of consumerism and cosmetic products in France, after baby talcum powder was accidentally contaminated with hexachlorophene. This article presents a diachronic study of the television coverage between 1972 and 1981. Indeed, the coverage and the development of the scandal is taken as a case study in the role and influence that television can have on current affairs.
Highlights
The health scandal brought to light issues of consumerism and cosmetic products in France, after baby talcum powder was accidentally contaminated with hexachlorophene
This article examines the impact of the television coverage of the Morhange talcum powder scandal between 1972 and 1981 in France
There are several lessons to be learned from this study of the television coverage of the Morhange baby powder case between 1972 and 1981
Summary
This article examines the impact of the television coverage of the Morhange talcum powder scandal between 1972 and 1981 in France. I complemented this initial corpus of news broadcasts, tele-magazines and advertisements with a written source from INA’s print archives.[8] Various French and European stakeholders in the case (representing consumers, public authorities and industrialists) had convened in a conference to discuss and debate the issues raised by the case. To characterize this coverage, I borrow the concept of “pseudo-event” developed by sociologist Jean Baudrillard,[9] despite its diachronic dimension. The troughs between each of these peaks were interphases during which the effects of the television coverage made themselves felt, with consequences such as the 1973 study session on cosmetics, beauty and hygiene products, the transformations of the advertisers’ selling points over the entire period, the increasingly regular appearances of consumer groups in tele-magazines on hygiene and beauty, and the evolution of the approaches and sensibilities that were given airtime
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