‘Well-being’: health promotion's red herring

‘Well-being’ is frequently said to be the ultimate goal of health promotion. However, health promotion author ities do no: offer a clear definition of ‘well-being’. Instead health promoters either assume a causal relationship between their activities and the increase of ‘well-being’ or claim privileged knowledge of ‘well-being’ and its means of production, or both. These health promotion strategies are questioned, and it is suggested that the use of ‘well-being’ in health promotion acts to obscure the analysis of health promotion philosophy and practice. It is concluded that either the term ‘well-being’ should be given clear and substantial content, or it should be discarded by health promoters. The latter option is favoured.