Abstract
This paper critically examines the morality of advertising by practitioners in spiritual healing and herbal medicine heretofore referred to as
traditional medicine, in southern African urban societies. While the subject of traditional medicine has been heavily contested in medical studies in
the last few decades, the monumental studies on the subject have emphasised the place of traditional medicine in basic health services.
Insignificant attention has been devoted to examine the ethical problems associated with traditional medicine advertising. Critical look at the
worthiness of some advertising strategies used by practitioners in traditional medicine in launching their products and services on market thus has
been largely ignored. Yet, though advertising is key to helping traditional medicine practitioners’ products and services known by prospective
customers, this research registers a number of morally negative effects that seem to outweigh the merits that the activity brings to prospective
customers. The paper adopts southern African urban societies, and in particular Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe as particular references.
The choice of the trio is not accidental, but based on the fact that these countries have in the last few decades been flooded with traditional
medicine practitioners/traditional healers from within the continent and from abroad. Most of these practitioners use immoral advertising strategies
in communicating to the public the products and services they offer. It is against this background that this paper examines the morality of
advertising strategies deployed by practitioners in launching their products and services. To examine the moral worthiness of the advertising
strategies used by traditional medical practitioners, I used qualitative analysis of street adverts as well as electronic and print media. From the
results obtained through thematic content analysis, the paper concludes that most of the practitioners in traditional medicine lack both business
and medical ethics. That said, the paper urges practitioners to seriously consider the morality of their adverts as in most cases they (adverts) do
more harm than good. Further to that, the piece recommends the governments of the affected countries to put in place stringent measures to
address this mounting problem.
Munyaradzi, M (2021). Ethical quandaries in spiritual healing and herbal medicine: A critical analysis of the morality of traditional medicine advertising in southern African urban societies. Afribary. Retrieved from https://afribary.com/works/ethical-quandaries-in-spiritual-healing-and-herbal-medicine-a-critical-analysis-of-the-morality-of-traditional-medicine-advertising-in-southern-african-urban-societies
Munyaradzi, Mawere "Ethical quandaries in spiritual healing and herbal medicine: A critical analysis of the morality of traditional medicine advertising in southern African urban societies" Afribary. Afribary, 08 May. 2021, https://afribary.com/works/ethical-quandaries-in-spiritual-healing-and-herbal-medicine-a-critical-analysis-of-the-morality-of-traditional-medicine-advertising-in-southern-african-urban-societies. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Munyaradzi, Mawere . "Ethical quandaries in spiritual healing and herbal medicine: A critical analysis of the morality of traditional medicine advertising in southern African urban societies". Afribary, Afribary, 08 May. 2021. Web. 22 Nov. 2024. < https://afribary.com/works/ethical-quandaries-in-spiritual-healing-and-herbal-medicine-a-critical-analysis-of-the-morality-of-traditional-medicine-advertising-in-southern-african-urban-societies >.
Munyaradzi, Mawere . "Ethical quandaries in spiritual healing and herbal medicine: A critical analysis of the morality of traditional medicine advertising in southern African urban societies" Afribary (2021). Accessed November 22, 2024. https://afribary.com/works/ethical-quandaries-in-spiritual-healing-and-herbal-medicine-a-critical-analysis-of-the-morality-of-traditional-medicine-advertising-in-southern-african-urban-societies