| Name | Jennifer Takhar |
| At SKEMA since… | September 2024 |
| Title | Associate Professor of Marketing |
| Specialisation | Biotechnology Markets |
| SKEMA Research Centre | Market Interactions (MINT) |
Jennifer Takhar is an Associate Professor of Marketing at SKEMA Business School. She is a researcher at the Market Interactions (MINT) Research Centre. Her research focuses on the exchanges between biotechnology markets and consumers of biotech products and services. She is currently investigating digital, embodied health movements in the context of FemTech (female technology). FemTech refers to software and services that deploy technology tailored towards women’s health and includes fertility solutions, period-tracking apps, pregnancy and reproductive system health care.
Could you tell us more about your field of research, particularly reproductive health marketing and consumption?
My field of research focuses on reproductive technologies, in vitro fertilisation, often alluded to as “hope” technologies. They include in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF) and oocyte cryopreservation (egg freezing). A key challenge in this area is ensuring that consumers make choices based on evidence-based research. My work speaks to that challenge by analysing consumer health movements and how they question the reprotech options and services that are available on the market. At the moment I am working on the marketisation of the menopause transition and shedding light on some of the ethical quandaries connected to it. I have edited a special issue on this topic which should be out later this month in the Journal of Marketing Management.
What results surprised you the most?
One surprising finding is that consumers are too eager to believe in miracle health solutions/services/products. This highlights the need for more heightened academic interrogation of them to safeguard buyers. Quick health fixes remain irresistible…and FemTech messaging continues to use hyperbolic rhetoric… Caveat Emptor (Buyer beware)!
What are the foreseen outcomes?
My recent research highlights the work of health campaigners, health professionals and consumer resistance movements who emphasise the importance of understanding questionable health services/products and unpredictable consumption trajectories, particularly in the case of assisted reproductive technologies. Beyond academia, my work has broader implications around patient well-being and medical decision-making.
References
Takhar, J., Schneider-Kamp, A., Bettany, S. (2025a). “All Change? The New Climacteric Market Awareness”. Journal of Marketing Management (forthcoming)
Takhar, J., Muir, K., Schneider-Kamp, A. (2025b). “I cannot let this happen to other people”: On menopause advocacy, marketing and consumption with Kate Muir”. Journal of Marketing Management (forthcoming)
Schneider-Kamp, A., & Takhar, J. (2023). “Interrogating the pill: Rising distrust and the reshaping of health risk perceptions in the social media age”. Social Science & Medicine, 331, 116081.