Each day it seems like the idea of what it means to be a woman, according to the mainstream media, evolves into something more and more unattainable.
Earlier this month, H&M released their fall 2016 ad campaign featuring many different sorts of women demonstrating what it means to be a “lady.” The advertisement features women of color, with armpit hair, trans women, along with more traditionally “unladylike” behavior such as getting food out of your teeth and the practice of manspreading.
Immediately there was a slew of love and hate across viewers. Some said it was extremely progressive and said it could help all sorts of women feel comfortable in their clothing. Others, such as the Twitter account/online group “1milmoms”, felt as if it was forcing some sort of agenda onto the masses of consumers.
H&M has frequently been involved in campaigns for various social issues, especially the environment. This is crucial in an industry that is extremely wasteful of water, resources and energy. So for this company to take on something as serious as diversity in their generally vanilla campaigns is wonderful- or so we thought.
When it comes down to it, H&M is a brand. They are a company looking to sell clothes and make money. Just as Dove has started to profit off of women’s insecurities through psuedofeminism and piggy-backing off of other campaigns for social improvement, H&M’s latest campaign cannot overlook this. The campaign doesn’t speak a message of empowerment. It doesn’t conclude with “celebrate diversity” or any sort of actual message from the company towards women. It concludes with, “In Stores Now,” as if self confidence and expression are something you can buy and sell.
Diversity is something that has continued to be celebrated more and more within the realms of the American society and especially within the fashion industry, and for that, I am grateful. However, until we stop using minority struggles as a means to make profit, we are not making any real progress, and part of this starts with noticing these fallacies in campaigning.
Here’s the video. What do you think?