Branding Pain Relief

Abstract

Abstract Chapter 3 traces the movement of pain and opioids into another space—the domain of pharmaceutical branding. This branding is where opioids have undergone a social and cultural process of normalization, one that transformed them from scientific/medical objects into sellable products. It looks at the branding of pain relief through a case study of the marketing of what is today the most famous of all prescription opioids—the painkiller OxyContin and its manufacturer, Purdue Pharma. Through an analysis of dozens of print advertisements, video campaigns, and other marketing techniques that Purdue used to promote its product, this chapter shows how a medical condition was reconstrued as a national problem, one that inherently hinders individuals’ pursuit of the American dream of self-realization, autonomy, and productivity. By tying pain to the American imagination in this way, opioids became increasingly easy to incorporate into American hospitals and households, where they were situated as familiar, domesticated objects.