A host of slickly marketed women’s health companies are changing the way life-altering medication is accessed – and commodifying it at the same time
Direct-to-consumer women’s health companies like Julie and Wisp offer emergency contraceptives and birth control on demand with the same glossy branding found in a Sephora aisle.Direct-to-consumer women’s health companies like Julie and Wisp offer emergency contraceptives and birth control on demand with the same glossy branding found in a Sephora aisle.) .
But they also turn what is often a life-altering medication into a trendy consumer product; commodifying its use and spinning the social and political conversation around it into a marketing strategy. “These companies have a financial interest in patients they serve utilizing the medications they promote,” said Suzanne Bollmeier, a professor of pharmacy practice at the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St Louis. “These are unchartered waters.
Other brands have leaned into the politics around their products, using the rollback of reproductive rights as fodder for TikTok and Instagram content. Winx hosted an activation at a “Hotties for Harris” event at the Democratic national convention and recently released a line of sweatshirts reading “vote with ur v@g”.
Other researchers have pointed out similar concerns, noting that telehealth companies don’t provide the services offered by OB-GYNs in person, like pap smears, breast exams and even blood-pressure checks. Ordering birth control online, said the Rand researcher Lori Uscher-Pines, “could be a missed opportunity to get much-needed preventative care”.
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