The Normalization of Consumerism in Healing Narratives on Social Media: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

The widespread shift in the meaning of healing across social media platforms has transformed public perceptions of psychological recovery into practices centered on the consumption of products, services, and experiences. This study aims to critically examine the changing meaning of healing and its implications for consumerist practices. Employing a mixed-methods approach with a case study design, the research combines qualitative and quantitative data to provide a comprehensive analysis. The qualitative data consist of TikTok videos posted by @avian.brands, which were analyzed using Norman Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) through its three analytical dimensions: text, discursive practice, and social practice. The quantitative component comprises secondary survey data on social media usage collected from multiple sources to contextualize the phenomenon. The findings demonstrate that healing narratives on social media function as discursive instruments that normalize consumption as a legitimate solution to psychological problems. The analysis further identifies a recurring cycle in which stress is mediated through media narratives that construct product desirability, encourage consumption, and ultimately produce only temporary healing, thereby reinforcing repeated consumer behavior rather than addressing the underlying causes of emotional distress. Six key data sets were identified from the Avian Brands campaign videos, including four findings at the textual level and two at the discursive practice level. The social practice analysis was conducted across three interconnected dimensions—situational, institutional, and social—revealing how healing discourse reproduces capitalist ideology by redefining emotional recovery as a consumer practice.