In the land of pharma: A qualitative analysis of the reputational discourse of the pharmaceutical industry. (May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Van den Bogaert, Sarah; Declercq, Jana; Christiaens, Thierry; Jacobs, Geert; Bracke, Piet
• Is Part Of: Public relations inquiry. Volume 7:Number 2(2018:May)
• Page Start: 127
• Page End: 147
• Publication Date: 2018-05
• Subjects: Corporate communication -- corporate reputation -- discourse -- pharmaceutical industry -- qualitative methods -- thematic analysis; Public relations -- Periodicals; 659.205
• DOI: 10.1177/2046147X18774588
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2046-147X

Abstract

The pharmaceutical industry has been battling a negative reputation and has been confronted with accusations such as putting profits before patients and manipulating clinical trial results. In this study, we focus on how pharmaceutical companies address what we define as the Bad Pharma discourse. Drawing on interviews, press releases, corporate documentation and ethnographic fieldwork, we analyse the main themes that are used by the Belgian pharmaceutical industry to construct its reputational discourse, and we focus on how this discourse is shaped by the Bad Pharma discourse. Our results illustrate that on the one hand, the industry contests the Bad Pharma discourse by generating an alternative discourse. On the other hand, they also partly embrace and reframe this Bad Pharma discourse. This way, current societal debates are entextualised in the reputational discourses of the pharmaceutical industry.