Promotional metaphors and their popular appeal

In a climate of increasing competition for funding and under increasing public scrutiny, scientists have recently increased their efforts to communicate their work to the public in an attempt to improve their public image. This paper looks at the rhetorical strategies employed in this context by scientists in the field of human genetics. From an assessment of the language used in articles about human genetics in the poular media, I suggest that scientists often employ strategies which could not only mislead the public, but which could also create problems for the scientists themselves.