Purpose

This paper aims to historicise the contemporary chlorophyll trend through the first academic study of its early marketing in Sweden (1950–1953). Using multimodal critical discourse analysis, it demonstrates how brands used advertisements to convince female consumers of chlorophyll’s necessity to fulfil certain aspirational goals.

Design/methodology/approach

In all, 150 advertisements for chlorophyll products were collected from the Swedish Historical Newspaper Archive, as well as 600 additional advertisements for the three most popular products (toothpaste/mouthwash, sanitary towels and soap) from 1940 to 1950 and from 1954 to 1964. Then, multimodal critical discourse analysis was used to investigate how the products were marketed before, during and after the chlorophyll trend, identifying the general themes and linguistic/semiotic structures of the advertisements.

Findings

This paper shows how the commercial use of chlorophyll offered a lucrative opportunity for marketers, acting as a “tabula rasa” on which they could use discourses of science, nature, idealised femininity and luxury to draw connections with health, modernity and beauty, despite the product having no real purpose or value.

Originality/value

Viewing this fad from a historical perspective emphasises how brands, marketers and influencers continue to capitalise on the anxieties of female consumers with promises around beauty, hygiene and health. It, thus, offers us critical distance to reflect on contemporary claims about chlorophyll’s health benefits to make informed choices.

中文翻译：

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所有闪闪发光的都不是（绿色）黄金：通过对 1950-1953 年瑞典营销的多模式分析来历史化当代叶绿素时尚

目的

本文旨在通过对瑞典早期营销（1950-1953）的第一次学术研究来历史化当代叶绿素趋势。使用多模态批判话语分析，它展示了品牌如何使用广告来说服女性消费者叶绿素实现某些理想目标的必要性。

设计/方法/方法

总共从瑞典历史报纸档案馆收集了 150 个叶绿素产品广告，以及 1940 年至 1950 年和 1954 年至 1964 年期间三种最受欢迎​​的产品（牙膏/漱口水、卫生巾和肥皂）的 600 个附加广告。 , 多模态批判性话语分析用于调查产品在叶绿素趋势之前、期间和之后的营销方式，确定广告的一般主题和语言/符号结构。

发现

本文展示了叶绿素的商业用途如何为营销人员提供了一个有利可图的机会，充当“白板”，他们可以在其中使用科学、自然、理想化的女性气质和奢华的话语来与健康、现代性和美感建立联系，尽管没有真正目的或价值的产品。

原创性/价值

从历史的角度来看这种时尚，强调品牌、营销人员和影响者如何继续利用女性消费者的焦虑，承诺美容、卫生和健康。因此，它为我们提供了重要的距离来反思当代关于叶绿素的健康益处的主张，以做出明智的选择。