Women’s health has seen a shift away from strictly clinical language as well as a rise in “femtech” brands which aim to demedicalize health and wellness technology in order to improve women’s use of it. These trends are becoming relevant to supplement marketing, where brands are starting to shift away from describing women’s health issues as medical problems in need of solutions, and instead discuss them openly as natural occurrences that supplements can support the body in coping with.
Demedicalization of Women’s Health
In recent years, women’s health and wellness topics have seen a shift away from treating natural processes such as menstruation and menopause as clinical issues that need to be fixed. This is a rejection of the medicalization of women’s health, which can otherwise be stigmatizing and further the barriers to women’s health and wellness.
This shift has also involved moving more medications over the counter and reducing the number of doctor’s visits women face in order to access certain health and wellness products. This has been in an attempt to increase the accessibility of products such as certain contraceptives, pelvic floor training devices, and of course supplement blends designed to address women’s health concerns such as menopause and PMS.
The demedicalization of women’s health is particularly evident in supplement marketing, where advertising language is shifting toward emphasizing the benefits of the product for “lifestyle and well-being” rather than strictly as a clinical solution to health concerns.
What is “Femtech”?
The move away from medicalization in women’s health has come alongside the rise of “Femtech,” a genre of health technology aimed at women. The Femtech movement is exemplified in brands such as Elvie, which released a pelvic floor training device promoted as a luxury tech device rather than as a medical implement. The device is promoted with gamification instructions, in order to encourage women to use the device as part of their daily routine.
Femtech is one example of how women’s health is being made more approachable, and how the natural changes in women’s bodies over time are being treated differently by health and lifestyle brands. Supplement brands have taken on a similar approach to Femtech brands, and are increasingly trying to make the sometimes difficult-to-discuss topics in women’s health more approachable.
How Can Brands Incorporate the New Health Trends?
Health and wellness brands that market toward women can be mindful of the demedicalization model by working to use naturalistic, encouraging language in marketing their products. For example, a supplement brand aimed at improving PMS may benefit from creating content that acknowledges how common these symptoms are. Marketing that does not treat them as a medical problem to be fixed will be more effective in making the products more accessible and appealing to women.
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