Discourse Analysis of Marketing of Medical Skincare Products in Health-Related We Media

. More and more marketing methods that borrow health knowledge popularization to marketing are used in the medical skincare products industry. Based on the discourse analysis method proposed by Fairclough, this paper explores the establishment of situational dialogue in the marketing of skincare products in health-related We Media. Besides, it subverts the original cognition and explains the three discourse strategies in a simple way to reflect the “scene-based” consumption situation. In addition to analyzing the “story-based” communication strategy of advertising content, this paper also plumbs the marketing logic that appeals to “sensibility” and “rationality” in vision as well as the unity of advertising discourse order and knowledge science discourse order. Consumers, producers, and knowledge owners struggle for discourse, a social power.


Introduction
The development of new media not only promotes the popularization of health knowledge but also provides an important marketing method. In recent years, many personal accounts that popularize health science have taken advantage of professional medical knowledge to publicize medical products. The concept of medical skincare products whose identity is between medicines and cosmetics was born in France. Giving up the known harmful substance to human skin with side effects, they can treat and care for skin, showing aesthetic life (Xiang, 2009). Medical skincare products not only offer a new market segment but also create a new marketing means for this industry (Ye, 2010). Marketing in the form of health science popularization is commonly used in medicines, health tonics, etc. With the increasing emphasis on the safety and efficacy of skincare products, it is now used in the medical skincare industry. By studying the content of Chinese medicine skincare products marketing in health-related We Media, this paper explores the discourse strategy, marketing logic, and the change of power relationship behind it.

Health Communication
Since the 1980s, medical records and other discourse forms have been studied in medicine (Zhu, 2007). Any human communication involving health is health communication (Nie, 2017). "Health communication is on the way to being a marketing chess to break the barrier between brands and consumers" (Yao & Feng, 2022). Health communication and health marketing are inseparable (Wu, 2007). The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines medical health marketing as "equally creative, good at communication, able to provide health information and related interventions with consumers as its core and science as its basic strategy and method to protect the health of different groups." (Zhang, 2016). With WeChat subscription becoming the main new media platform for health communication (Song, 2021), health marketing makes the public realize the importance of health and then carries out product promotion step by step, which meets the psychological expectation of the audience and results in purchasing behavior (Deng, 2014). Therefore, purposeful and gradual health marketing is the necessary guarantee for the long-term development of health communication (Fu, 2007). In the previous studies in China, their research mostly adopts

Data Collection
According to the classification of six medical skincare products summarized by He Li (2011), 24 posts in We Media accounts were sampled.

Discourse Strategy Analysis of Marketing of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Skincare Products in Health-Related We Media

Texts
Text analysis is based on three dimensions, including lexical analysis, syntactic grammar, and text narration to analyze the discourse characteristics of medical skincare products marketing.
(1) Lexical Analysis The rich vocabulary and the proper use of personal pronouns draw close to the consumers; proper nouns are used many times to highlight professionalism and win the trust of the audience; listing data is to support professionalism; emotional interjections are used frequently to express wonder. Interjections are generally used in two scenarios, one is dissatisfaction with the status quo at the beginning, and the other is praise for products after use; network buzzwords keep up with the trend. In terms of vocabulary selection, there are various choices, and the combination of professional and buzzwords makes the vocabulary very scene-oriented.  Emotionally, vocabulary can be classified into rational vocabulary (such as proper nouns, data, charts, etc.) and complementary emotional vocabulary (such as interjections, modal particles, etc.), which expresses consumer demands with words combining perception and reason to enlarge the expressiveness and persuasiveness of scenes constructed by words. In addition, the word frequency of 24 posts is statistically analyzed. Keywords such as skin, doctor, sense of use, components, and recommendation will be emphasized when marketing medical skincare products in health-related We Media.
(2) Syntactic Grammar The text structure of marketing posts can be roughly divided into the title, introductory words, main body, and conclusion. The title names highlight the purpose of this article; the introduction points out the pain points of consumption by setting up scene dialogue and down-to-earth language; the main body introduces the products, and the conclusion demonstrates the purchase methods and discounts. From the analysis of the topic, introductory words, main body, conclusion, sentence patterns, syntactic structures, and grammatical units, the following table is obtained: Generally speaking, in terms of the syntactic structure and form, the product introduction mostly uses declarative sentences, while exclamatory sentences, ellipsis, and questions are often used in introductory words and topics; exclamatory sentences often appear in the conclusion. Concerning rhetorical devices, the title often uses exaggeration; In the main body, there will be contrast used to describe effects before and after using products, the analogy that makes product knowledge easier to understand, and the anthropomorphic effect that personifies product elements. The use of questions in posts deepens the topic and transmits to products, which triggers readers' thinking and arouses consumers' resonance. Finally, the questions are answered, which not only completes the marketing purpose but also enhances the persuasion effect, further deepening the relationship between consumers and commodities to promote purchase behavior.
(3) Text Narration Posts on WeChat public platform have their narrative style. Generally, their narrative style is situational and life-oriented with a unified language used under a unified account. The narrative logic is generally "the introduction at the beginning, the introduction of scenarios, the introduction of demand, the proposal of products to solve demand, scientific and professional products, purchase channels and methods, use methods, use effects of products, call for purchase/purchase discount, references".

Image Text
WeChat public platform is a combination of pictures and texts. Therefore, the role of image text cannot be ignored. There are two forms of image text in this study: one is the vertical comic, and the other is the explanatory picture inserted to promote understanding. This part is premised on the visual image analysis method proposed by Kress and Van Leeuwen, which consists of representational meaning, interactive meaning, and compositional meaning.
(1) Representational Meaning Pictures can present real life more realistically. Vertical comic pictures are represented and introduced into products with a certain life scene. Then, products are marketed by discussing real skincare questions, so as to restore the needs in reality and arouse more audience resonance in this representational way. The interaction between images and audiences is a vector, through which the audience judges the interaction between participants (Huang, 2021). Representing product pictures and contrast before and after product usage also increases consumers' trust.
(2) Interactive Meaning In the recommending posts, interactive meaning is achieved by adding hyperlinks to the pictures or inserting emoticons, pictures, and other forms. Leaving directly from photos to mini-programs where one can purchase by clicking reduces the tedious process and stimulates the purchase behavior to a certain extent. Inserting emoticon pictures is to ease the advertising atmosphere and increase intimacy and emotional connection.
(3) Compositional Meaning According to Kress and Van Leeuwen, the compositional meaning has three aspects, that is, information value, framing, and salience. Generally speaking, the picture composition style under the same account is relatively unified. The information value of the main body is relatively high, and the framing is mostly centered. Meanwhile, the salience is reflected by bold, enlarged, and repeated forms. The products tend to have poor salience but high unity.

Discourse Practice Analysis
This part will explore the content generation and transmission of marketing posts of Chinese medicine skincare products in health-related We Media, in order to analyze and summarize their recommending strategies and discourse strategies.

Recommending Strategy and Discourse Analysis
(1) Situational Dialogue Form-Life Situation Through the graphic form of situational dialogue, a scene when using products is established, which is a two-dimensional life situation based on the purchase in reality. It is easier to promote consumers' decision-making by considering consumers' purchase mentality, demands, and questions on products, which reduces consumers' discomfort and avoidance of advertisements as well as maintain the viscosity between WeChat official accounts and consumers.
(2) Subverting the Original Cognition-Establishing a Sense of Authority It can be seen from the title of the article that its theme can start from the public views such as inherent cognition. Then, medical professional knowledge and related data are used to discuss, controlled the consumers again. In the We Media era when everyone can produce knowledge, the main body of knowledge production has changed from an expert institution to a We Media institution specializing in content production. However, in We Media accounts in the medical field, We Media institutions still need knowledge assistance from third-party doctors and medical institutions, which shows that the knowledge gap still exists in some industries with higher professional requirements in the We Media era, even if the main body of media production has changed.

Conclusion
This paper explores the establishment of situational dialogue in the marketing of medical skincare products by studying its marketing content in health-related We Media accounts. In addition to subverting the original cognition, it also explains the three discourse strategies of obscure nouns in a simple way and gives play to the consumption scenes. The dissemination of advertising content is story-based. In the vision, it appeals to the internal unified marketing logic of "emotions" and "rationality", as well as the advertising discourse order and the knowledge science discourse order. Critical discourse analysis believes that discourse itself is social power, with the power struggling among consumers, producers, and knowledge owners behind this phenomenon. However, the contents of medical skincare product marketing in We Media accounts in China are polarized in quality at present, which is worth further exploring from an interdisciplinary perspective and mass communication thinking.