Medicated by the Corporate Soul: Public Relations, Storytelling, and Philanthropy in the Pharmaceutical Industry, 1912-1980

Abstract

Over the course of the twentieth century, the pharmaceutical industry evolved into its modern form. Individual pharmaceutical companies formed trade organizations in the early 1900s and experienced exponential growth in the 1930s and onward with the development of lifesaving and life-changing therapeutics. While providing products with immense value, the industry also faced criticism for a variety of practices, from labeling and advertising to pricing and patenting. In the midst of public ire and regulatory threats at various points in its growth, the industry and individual companies developed public relations programming to offset critiques, enter and grow markets, connect with their workforce, and (re)gain favor with the public. Using philanthropy and marketing as lenses into public relations, this dissertation explores public relations efforts through a series of case studies of one of the industry’s major trade organizations, the American Drug Manufacturers’ Association, as well as individual companies, including The Upjohn Company, Parke-Davis, Smith, Kline & French, and Alcon Laboratories. I begin in 1912 and follow the priorities of the ADMA in its first decades. Despite discussions about the need to educate the public about the industry’s work and its story, the ADMA failed to follow-through, leaving this storytelling to individual companies. I then explore how individual companies engaged in storytelling and history crafting through museum work and the creation of art. Finally, I examine industry-level and company-level philanthropy, connecting small philanthropic acts as well as programmatic philanthropy to positioning the industry and offsetting legislation. In this work, I contribute to the historiography of the pharmaceutical industry’s public relations and philanthropy.