In the Back of the Bus: Racialized High-Risk Consumption and Sickle Cell Disease

Although premarket options like innovative therapies (ITs) have potential to cure life-threatening diseases, they are not always adopted. In some cases, this is informed by a legacy and ongoing presence of racism, discrimination, and distrust in health delivery that complicate consumer experiences. This study responds to calls for greater research in marketing—exploring serious forms of risk and the racialized experiences of Black consumers. Using archival content associated with consumers impacted by sickle cell disease, we find that the interplay between individual and collective high-risk assessments involves (re)drawing risk boundaries, racialized risk personalization, and deracializing risk. Our work extends the consumer research literature to include (a) the link between race, high-risk consumption, and high-risk environments; (b) historicizing in consumers’ multilevel risk assessments; and (c) premarket innovations as a novel high-risk context.