Can We Beat “Alternative Medicine”

Sometimes naming a product, a service, or a category is a decision that needs to be considered wisely.

This name change will create a difference in perception and create a new meaning for the product because it would reframe it.

Let’s remember the journey of Coca-Cola. When consumer trends turned towards the low-sugar products, especially when female consumers began to prefer products with fewer calories, Coca-Cola alternatively launched a low-sugar product and called it “Diet Coke.” After a while, the company realized that male consumers were not buying this product, so they tried to put it in a new framework with “Coca Cola Light.” Meanwhile, the distance of the male consumer towards the product has continued. Therefore, a more masculine framework was needed for the still unconvinced male consumer, so this is how “Coca Cola Zero” was born.

One of the successful examples of this new framing is the “Wellness” trend that has come into our lives recently. Wellness is such a mighty name that almost everything under this heading is perceived positively, and it can easily find a place in daily life for the target audience. A great framing that doesn’t even need to solve any consumer problem. Many different categories such as meditation, yoga, breathing, shamanism, sports, nutrition, sleep, psychotherapy, bioenergy meet under the umbrella of “Wellness” with the promise of spontaneous healing or getting better. Honestly, it’s one of the best marketing efforts ever. It has created and will continue to make cultural changes worldwide.

A similar situation arises with “Alternative Medicine.” We face a charlatanismthat does not use scientific methods like modern medicine and is not based on data or evidence. I’m talking about a massive scam that often builds its existence on an ancient past or unscientific practices in the far east, as it fails to provide any evidence. Such practices frame themselves as an alternative to modern medicine. Even when scientists object to such unscientific practices, they necessarily use “Alternative Medicine.” Because everyone has to refer to these practices as alternative medicine, a severe meaning is built in people’s perception due to this framework. You declare “an alternative solution for problems that modern medicine cannot solve” each time you use this term.