Pharmaceutical branding: “building the beast”

Pharmaceutical branding: "building the beast" ~~ Each word has an entire volume of history attached to it.  Where does it come from?  How was it used in other places, other times?  Tracing the ancestry of a word through etymology reveals ancient understandings of the need for and role of such a word in a culture and tracks philosophical shifts over time on a societal level [exhibit A: compare the ancient, etymological meaning of “psychiatry” to current uses].  A word with no history, springing up “full-grown” and pregnant with meaning, is an anomaly with a specific function: it serves, not a culture attaching meaning to its life-world, but the sole purposes of its creator.  It delivers a very specific message -- cut out of context, simplified, compelling -- from its master to all who invoke its power.  PROZAC.  SEROQUEL.  ZYPREXA.  We're talking about branding.

Hotel for the mentalists

Part 1 and 2 here and part 3 here. Part 4 here. These were originally posted here. This is Keener's amazing story. I hope you will all start picking it up. There are several more installments some of which she is writing just for this blog in order to finish her story. She is completely... Continue Reading →

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