On the importance of naturalness for the German pharmaceutical discourse. What are the characteristics of a good drug – and how can I emphasize these characteristics in a marketing strategy? This question concerns not only marketing managers, but also linguists and language strategists in the pharmaceutical sector. But actually, it can never be answered across […]
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The “ketchup effect” in the context of Corona vaccination strategies
Many politicians have frequently used war metaphors when communicating about the Corona crisis. That the use of combative metaphors in this context should be considered problematic has already been pointed out by Joachim Peters and me in several posts on our blog. Especially in relation to vaccination policy, combative metaphors do not seem to be […]
Queue-jumping and vaccination envy: framing and reframing the current vaccination discourse on a European level
In cooperation with Joachim Peters The media discourse around Covid-19 vaccination is currently dominated by two intertwined topics: On the one hand, there is not yet enough vaccine for all population groups and many people cannot wait until they are finally vaccinated. On the other hand, hesitant, if not downright negative, voices are being raised […]
Linguistic Insights: German government press releases on Corona issues are difficult to understand
In a study of German press releases on Corona issues, communication scientists from the University of Hohenheim revealed that the language used is difficult to understand. The study examined 1362 press releases from the German government and federal ministries from March 2020 to January 2021. All of the examined texts contained the words corona, covid-19, pandemic, and crisis. All […]
Building trust in Covid-19 vaccines through study data and clear communication
In cooperation with Christine Mertzlufft This week saw another milestone in the crisis management of the Covid pandemic: The EMA (European Medicines Agency) approved AstraZeneca’s Corona vaccine in the EU – as the third vaccine after Biontech and Moderna. However, the Standing Committee on Vaccination at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin recommends that only […]
The absence of war? – Covid 19, war metaphors and the German health discourse
While military metaphors are a traditional strategy when used to describe viruses, there has been long standing debate about the usefulness of such metaphors. In the German health discourse, war metaphors should be used carefully.