{"id":16122,"date":"2026-02-04T23:55:58","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T12:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/?p=16122"},"modified":"2026-02-05T00:03:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T13:03:20","slug":"marketing-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/marketing-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Marketing science"},"content":{"rendered":"

People often see science as a world apart: cool, rational and\u00a0untouched by persuasion<\/a>\u00a0or performance. In this view, scientists simply discover truth, and\u00a0truth speaks for itself<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But history tells a different story. Scientific theories do not simply reveal themselves; they compete for attention, credibility and uptake. US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr once suggested that \u201cthe best test of truth<\/a> is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market,\u201d a line that helped popularise the metaphor of a \u201cmarketplace of ideas<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this view, science is not outside the market, but inside a public arena where claims vie for audiences, resources and belief \u2013 and where power, persuasion and social position shape which ideas are heard, trusted or forgotten.<\/p>\n

As a\u00a0marketing scholar trained in economic sociology<\/a>, I study how institutions that are supposedly above or apart from market logics \u2013 such as\u00a0science<\/a>,\u00a0religion<\/a>,\u00a0medicine<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0education<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 use marketing tools to sustain credibility and build or keep moral authority.<\/p>\n

When I tell people that one of the areas I study is the marketing of science, they are often surprised at the concept. Yet persuasion is an integral part of the scientific process.<\/p>\n

From Isaac Newton\u2019s followers and their coffeehouse demonstrations of physics, wonders to today\u2019s TED Talks<\/a>\u00a0and TikTok explainers, scientists have long relied on storytelling and demonstration to make invisible truths visible. For scientific theories to supplant other plausible theories, to challenge existing theories and win acceptance, they must be correct \u2013 but they must also be convincing.<\/p>\n

In the early 1700s, Isaac Newton\u2019s followers turned abstract theory into public performance and cultural fashion.<\/p>\n

At the time,\u00a0Cartesian philosophy<\/a> dominated intellectual life. Newton\u2019s 1687 book Principia Mathematica<\/a><\/em>\u00a0proposed a new worldview of gravity, optics and motion, but the mathematics was so dense that few could grasp it.<\/p>\n

Although Newton himself was a recluse, a circle of zealous Newtonian men of science,\u00a0described by historians<\/a>\u00a0as\u00a0devoted disciples and even evangelists<\/a>\u00a0for Newton\u2019s natural philosophy, took his new theories on the road. These itinerant lecturers performed experiments and spectaculars in London coffeehouses and aristocratic salons, demonstrating Newtonian physics. They sold tickets, pamphlets and even branded scientific instruments so audiences could reproduce these marvels at home.<\/p>\n

Historian of science Jeff Wigelsworth showed that Newton\u2019s evangelisers built what today might be called a brand<\/a>: experiences, artifacts and emotions that linked scientific authority to\u00a0Enlightenment ideals of reason and progress<\/a>, and to their own personalities.<\/p>\n

My own research finds that these men of science also\u00a0used a suite of early marketing activities<\/a>. Besides developing products to sell to promote Newtonian science, they came up with promotions that targeted different audiences, adjusted their pricing and used varied distribution strategies.<\/p>\n

Along with their pure entertainment value, these public demonstrations were integrally entwined with Newtonian scientific viewpoints and helped these ideas gain popularity and legitimacy in public life.<\/p>\n

As in our own time, where one\u2019s stance on various scientific debates often\u00a0signals one\u2019s political ideology or religious beliefs<\/a>, aligning in support of Newton\u2019s theories over, say,\u00a0Ren\u00e9 Descartes<\/a>\u2019 or\u00a0Gottfried Wilhelm Liebniz<\/a>\u2019s in discussion and by practice also came to\u00a0indicate a certain stance on theology and politics<\/a>, and to be Newtonian became a social signal of a\u00a0desirable style and social status<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Three centuries later, the marketing of science is more visible, and more complicated, than ever.<\/p>\n

Scientists can now promote their work on social media platforms like Bluesky, YouTube and TikTok,\u00a0crafting personal brands and cultivating audiences<\/a>. Influencer-scientists use storytelling, humor and design to reach millions. If scientists don\u2019t do this themselves, their proponents, just like Newton\u2019s disciples, may do it for them.<\/p>\n

I call this process the marketisation of moral authority: when historically sacred or ostensibly impartial institutions such as science, religion and education increasingly organise themselves as markets, adopting promotional, pricing and product logics to secure their legitimacy, authority, appeal and funding.<\/p>\n

None of this effort is inherently bad. As in Newton\u2019s time, effective marketing communications can make complex work accessible and even inspiring. It can publicise and defend important theoretical and practical findings in a competitive, sceptical world.<\/p>\n

But it raises questions.<\/p>\n

You might wonder why anyone beyond academia should care whether science is marketed. After all, every field uses communication and outreach.<\/p>\n

It matters because science is\u00a0one of the few institutions people still rely on<\/a>\u00a0to anchor truth claims in evidence. And when the boundary between scientific fact and promotion blurs, it becomes easy to confuse confidence with credibility, or charisma with responsible consensus.<\/p>\n

Scientific rhetoric can easily be co-opted. Think of wellness influencers using \u201cquantum\u201d jargon to sell supplements; AI companies invoking neuroscience to legitimatise untested technologies; charlatans mimicking the language of peer review<\/a>\u00a0to sow doubt.<\/p>\n

But awareness is a form of protection. When you recognise that scientific authority can be built through persuasion, you become more discerning consumers of it. Faced with a message involving science, you can consider:<\/p>\n