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Chapter 13 - Advertising Proprietary Medicines in Pamphlets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 October 2022

By
Carla Suhr
Edited by
Irma Taavitsainen ,
Turo Hiltunen ,
Jeremy J. Smith  and
Carla Suhr
Irma Taavitsainen
Affiliation:
University of Helsinki
Turo Hiltunen
Affiliation:
University of Helsinki
Jeremy J. Smith
Affiliation:
University of Glasgow
Carla Suhr
Affiliation:
University of Helsinki
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Summary

This chapter focuses on the hybrid genre of pamphlet advertisements of proprietary medicines from the late seventeenth century. These texts have a dual purpose: on the one hand, they promote a medical product, and on the other hand, they appropriate and distribute medical information for the general public. A move analysis of thirty-two advertisements reveals seven structural elements, of which three can be considered obligatory elements. Parallels with the structural elements of recipes and specialised medical treatises are also considered to show how established elements are appropriated and mixed from different existing genres alongside completely fresh elements in the new hybrid genre. The analysis thus shows the dynamic nature of medical writing of the period, in which authors made use of their considerable knowledge of established medical genres and the characteristics of the contemporary medical marketplace to form a new genre for new purposes.

Keywords

pamphlet advertisementsproprietary medicinesgenre analysismove analysishybrid genrepromotional discourseEarly Modern English
Type
Chapter
Information
Genre in English Medical Writing, 1500–1820
Sociocultural Contexts of Production and Use
 , pp. 211 - 230
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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