Seasonique is a birth control pill that a female takes every night that not only prevents a female from getting pregnant, but also stops the female from having a period every single month. Instead of having the monthly menstruation cycle, women are able to alter their cycle and only have their period once a season, or every three months. I chose this article because Teva Pharmaceuticals is medicalizing a natural bodily function that happens to all females.
I argue three main points:
1. Teva uses medicalization to push people into buying Seasonique as their form of birth control/using direct to consumer advertising to make the menstrual cycle, something that is very natural in every female body, a disease/disorder
2. Teva uses language to grasps the audiences attention and express to them that they have the right to choose what pill they want to be taking and if they want their period every single month
3. Seasonique is the first pill that allows the female to alter their period, taking away from the main reason why females want to use birth control
My major findings were as followed:
1. The first finding used the idea that informs ideological criticism by the use of structuralism. The ad uses certain words that grab the audience’s attention. One of them is “Who says you HAVE to have 12 periods a year on the pill?” Insisting that females have the right to make their own decision when it comes to how many periods they want a year. It also says “Repunctuate your life with fewer periods” using a play-on-words with the word repunctuate, playing off the literal punctuation of the period and referring it to the menstrual cycle that is also known as a period. The ad also starts off with a black and white background with only the color red being shown, hinting that periods are a big part of the females life. It closes with black and white, but the females in the ad are in color, expressing they are in control of their decision and that their lives are more colorful and exciting after taking this pill.
2. The next finding uses hegemony, which is the privileging of the ideology of one group over that of other groups. The ad is clearly directed to a female audience. Hegemony also must be “renewed, reinforced, and defended.” Teva has taken the common birth control pill that was created in the 1930’s and has updated and reinforced this different out look on the birth control pill.
3. The third finding in the ad uses postmodernism, showing culture has moved to a new age. In the ad, women are doing more than just staying at home and cooking and cleaning. They are able to go out and hike, go to the beach, go to parties, work, and spend time with family. The ad expresses that the pill allows the female to be able to participate in these activities because she doesn’t have to stay at home with cramps, fatigue, and other premenstrual symptoms.
4. The final finding was the idea that Teva has medicalized the monthly period. In the ad, it says, “There is no medical need to have a monthly period.” Teva has created the idea that having a period every single month is wrong and unnecessary. They portray that in order to fix this disease/disorder, females should take Seasonique.
Discussion questions:
1. After learning about rhetoric and the way companies use direct to consumer advertisement, do you think your outlook on medications and advertisement for those medications will change? How so? Will you refrain from buying certain medications/products now?
2. How do you think society is affected by these direct to consumer advertisements that create an audience for a disease/disorder that’s not real?
3. What other aspects of the Seasonique ad stand out to you that I did not touch on? Do you feel like this ad does a good job at persuading the audience to buy Seasonique? How so?
After taking this class I will definitely be way more apprehensive about advertisements for drugs and diseases. Many of these advertisements, such as this one make it seem like you have something wrong with you and you need to fix it right away, so you are "normal". After taking this class and learning how to rhetorically analyze things, I will pay more attention to the words and situation they use in advertisements, as well as do outside research before I take action. I will definitely refrain from buying certain products because many of the ones they advertise are unnecessary for us, but they make it seem like we have to have them.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of society, I think that society as a whole is greatly affected by these direct to consumer advertisements. Before I took this class I did not think about the rhetorical functions being used and I would have fallen into the trap. I think that most people don't look at commercials and advertisements in terms of rhetorically criticizing it, so they believe what they are seeing and hearing, and are thus called into action.
This birth control pill does make it seem like periods are a problem and not normal and women need to do something about it. I don't necessarily think this is a problem necessarily because if women don't want to have their periods for whatever reason, then why not have it? However, I don't think that this company should make periods seem like a disease because it is a very natural, normal, and healthy thing.
After reading the synopsis of your Seasonique analysis, I slightly disagree with your last finding. You state that, "The final finding was the idea that Teva has medicalized the monthly period, In the ad, it says, “There is no medical need to have a monthly period.”… They portray that in order to fix this disease/disorder, females should take Seasonique." By stating “There is no medical need to have a monthly period,” I believe that this ad is pathologizing the females body as something that is medically abnormal. By utilizing pathologicalization, advertisers are selling Seasonique as fix to the females new found "abnormality".
ReplyDeleteI have somewhat evolved the way I look at medical advertisements and the perception people take when looking at mental disorders, but I continue to see the underlying theme of progress beneath the subliminal advertising. Although the products advertised are ultimately seeking to make a profit, they are also promoting newer health options that can make life easier. Sure, periods are a natural thing that are not something that should be medicalized, but if they can be relieved in a way that is not harmful, then they should be just like any other area of health. Comfort through progress seems to be the most important thing. I think what makes something real never actually changes. Society can only benefit from medical advancements such as this, because like the ad alludes to, no one waits in happy anticipation for their period to come along if they are on birth control. The ad very much focuses on the demographic of women in their late twenties and early thirties who live very active and fast-paced lives. Their advertising strategy would be very persuasive for that particular group because eliminating a monthly period would be one less thing in their daily schedule to think about.
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