IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v382y2025ics0277953625006707.html

“Why you should (not) use semaglutide?”: A critical discourse analysis on health professionals’ videos of semaglutide for weight loss on Douyin

Author

Listed:
  • Huang, Xiang

Abstract

The recent approval of semaglutide, a GLP-1 receptor agonist, for weight loss in China, has raised public attention. While heated discussions on semaglutide are seen in Chinese social media, limited studies have explored discourses from healthcare professionals about how they introduce the drug and recommend if individuals shall use it or not. Taking a critical discourse analysis approach, this study examines the ways in which the professionals talk about semaglutide on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. Based on 56 healthcare professionals' videos on Douyin, this study has found the professionals’ divergent views of semaglutide, which reveal three major discourses on semaglutide, i.e., semaglutide is a medical breakthrough (facilitating the use of semaglutide); semaglutide is a not a short-cut for losing weight (discouraging the use of semaglutide); and mixed perceptions of patients and doctors (ambiguities in the use of semaglutide). These discourses depict semaglutide by drawing on existing and prominent discourses surrounding obesity, including medicalization of obesity and obesity as personal responsibility. While traditional medical authority of healthcare professionals figure prominently, a neoliberal role that is self-responsibility driven on the side of individuals is called in the videos. This study therefore highlights the contextualized online health communication on semaglutide in the Chinese context. Implications of the semaglutide discourses for obesity intervention in China are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Huang, Xiang, 2025. "“Why you should (not) use semaglutide?”: A critical discourse analysis on health professionals’ videos of semaglutide for weight loss on Douyin," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 382(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:382:y:2025:i:c:s0277953625006707
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118339
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953625006707
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118339?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Campos-Rivera, Paola Abril & Alfaro-Ponce, Berenice & Ramírez-Pérez, Michelle & Bernal-Serrano, Daniel & Contreras-Loya, David & Wirtz, Veronika J., 2025. "Quality of information and social norms in Spanish-speaking TikTok videos as levers of commercial practices: The case of semaglutide," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 366(C).
    2. Guariglia, Alessandra & Monahan, Mark & Pickering, Karen & Roberts, Tracy, 2021. "Financial health and obesity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    3. Brewis, Alexandra A., 2014. "Stigma and the perpetuation of obesity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 152-158.
    4. Baker, Paul & Brookes, Gavin & Atanasova, Dimitrinka & Flint, Stuart W., 2020. "Changing frames of obesity in the UK press 2008–2017," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bauer, Jan M. & Nielsen, Kristian S. & Hofmann, Wilhelm & Reisch, Lucia A., 2022. "Healthy eating in the wild: An experience-sampling study of how food environments and situational factors shape out-of-home dietary success," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).
    2. Lad, Saloni U. & Sinopoli, Jacob & Khong, Brian & Conroy, Britt & Perzynski, Adam T. & del Rincon, Juan P., 2024. "Clinical and sociodemographic characteristics as predictors for quality of life in transmasculine and transfeminine individuals receiving gender-affirming hormone therapy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 346(C).
    3. Panter-Brick, Catherine & Eggerman, Mark, 2018. "The field of medical anthropology in Social Science & Medicine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 233-239.
    4. Claire E. Altman & Jennifer Van Hook & Jonathan Gonzalez, 2017. "Becoming Overweight without Gaining a Pound: Weight Evaluations and the Social Integration of Mexicans in the United States," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1), pages 3-36, March.
    5. Davis, Jenny L. & Goar, Carla & Manago, Bianca & Reidinger, Bobbi, 2018. "Distribution and disavowal: Managing the parental stigma of Children's weight and weight loss," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 219(C), pages 61-69.
    6. Lin, Michelle I-Hsuan & Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Ackermann, Klaus, 2024. "The fattening speed: Understanding the impact of internet speed on obesity, and the mediating role of sedentary behaviour," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    7. Hoke, Morgan K. & Boen, Courtney E., 2021. "The health impacts of eviction: Evidence from the national longitudinal study of adolescent to adult health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 273(C).
    8. Daouli, Joan & Davillas, Apostolos & Demoussis, Michael & Giannakopoulos, Nicholas, 2014. "Obesity persistence and duration dependence: Evidence from a cohort of US adults (1985–2010)," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 12(C), pages 30-44.
    9. Ha-Jin Jang & Hannah Oh, 2021. "Trends and Inequalities in Overall and Abdominal Obesity by Sociodemographic Factors in Korean Adults, 1998–2018," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-19, April.
    10. Pierre Levasseur, 2021. "Dynamics of the Bodyweight-Wage Relationship in Emerging Countries: Evidence from Mexico [Dynamiques de la relation entre corpulence et salaire dans les pays émergents : le cas du Mexique]," Post-Print hal-03335825, HAL.
    11. King, Brian W. & Dayrell, Carmen & Zorzi, Virginia, 2026. "Risk and danger on the rise: Representation of intersex variations of innate sex characteristics in biomedical research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 389(C).
    12. Wilson, Marisa & McLennan, Amy, 2019. "A comparative ethnography of nutrition interventions: Structural violence and the industrialisation of agrifood systems in the Caribbean and the Pacific," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 172-180.
    13. Xu, Yuanwei & Wang, Feicheng, 2022. "The health consequence of rising housing prices in China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 114-137.
    14. Qi Li & Cynthia G. Colen, 2024. "Racial Disparities in the Relationship Between Parental Incarceration and Childhood Obesity," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 43(4), pages 1-22, August.
    15. Alexandra A. Brewis & Meg Bruening, 2018. "Weight Shame, Social Connection, and Depressive Symptoms in Late Adolescence," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-12, May.
    16. Hackman, Joseph & Maupin, Jonathan & Brewis, Alexandra A., 2016. "Weight-related stigma is a significant psychosocial stressor in developing countries: Evidence from Guatemala," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 55-60.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:382:y:2025:i:c:s0277953625006707. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.