Abstract
Commercial food health branding is a challenging branch of marketing because it might, at the same time, promote healthy living and be commercially viable.
However, the power to influence individuals’ health behavior and overall health status makes it crucial for marketing professionals to take into account the ethical
dimensions of health branding: this article presents a conceptual analysis of potential ethical problems in health branding. The analysis focuses on ethical concerns related to the application of three health brand elements (functional
claims, process claims, and health symbols) as well as a number of general concerns that apply to health branding as such. Being a pioneering analysis, this article advances the academic understanding of health branding and provides practitioners with knowledge of important concerns to take into account when marketing health brands.
However, the power to influence individuals’ health behavior and overall health status makes it crucial for marketing professionals to take into account the ethical
dimensions of health branding: this article presents a conceptual analysis of potential ethical problems in health branding. The analysis focuses on ethical concerns related to the application of three health brand elements (functional
claims, process claims, and health symbols) as well as a number of general concerns that apply to health branding as such. Being a pioneering analysis, this article advances the academic understanding of health branding and provides practitioners with knowledge of important concerns to take into account when marketing health brands.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Journal of Business Ethics |
Volume | 104 |
Issue number | 1 |
Pages (from-to) | 33-45 |
Number of pages | 13 |
ISSN | 0167-4544 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Nov 2011 |