Patient influencers: The morality of paid influence in pharmaceutical advertising (2021)

In very recent years, we’ve seen the rise of the social media influencer – someone who creates content for their social media followers. It is unexpected that pharmaceutical drugs or medical devices would be supported by influencers, or that patients’ experiences would be commercialized in this way. This project seeks to investigate the moral justifications that go into social influence practices and the implications for ethics training, if any, as well as what guidelines and brand values are given to influencers related to projecting the image of the company. Pharmaceutical companies are already employing patient influencers to build relationships directly with consumers. By leveraging social media and patient influencers, pharmaceutical companies hope to be viewed favorably in terms of trust and credibility.