What is Marketplace Feminism?

When I finally reached the third floor of Buntrock, I felt hungry, sleepy, thirsty, and winded. In my defense however, everything is 10x harder when you have an early morning class. And, Buntrock has way too many stairs. A few weeks ago, while reading USA Today, I found myself reading an article called, “Are Women Being Played by Companies’ ‘feminist’ campaigns?” As someone who identifies as a strong supporter of feminism and women’s rights, I immediately thought back to all the campaigns I had seen over recent months that have been using advertisements with strong messages of female empowerment. 

In Anne-Marcelle Ngabirano’s article, she explores the relationship between capitalism and feminism. According to Ngabirano, advertisements for products featuring women’s empowerment has increased in recent months. One reason for this increase may be feminism’s growing reach in pop culture. The increase could also be attributed to the rapid mobilization of American citizens who support gender equality, especially events such as the Women’s March after the inauguration of President Donald Trump. 

And she’s right. Feminism in advertisements are everywhere. Brands such as Dove, Unilever, Thinx, Dior, and Secret are constantly using women’s empowerment as a selling point for their products. Below is one example of this, Always’s “Always #LikeAGirl” campaign featuring people of different genders and ages and defining what they believe “throwing like a girl” means. 

According to Andi Ziesler, founder of bitchmedia, a feminist media organization, “Marketplace feminism comes to steal the show from more explicit active feminism.” In an article on bitchmedia.org, she wrote that marketplace feminism has been in existence for years. Marketplace feminism is when the companies use “feminist language, values, and activism” to sell their products. Because they represent 70 to 80% of consumer spending, according to the Boston Consulting Group, the spending power and influence of women is frequently targeted by companies. 

For some people, such as Jennifer Pozner, a media literacy educator and founder of Women in Media and News, a media analysis, education and advocacy group, “Most companies tend not to invest in feminist programs, they just tend to use feminist rhetoric to try to get us to spend money.” According to Pozner, as consumers, we need to ask ourselves, “If it’s a company using feminist rhetoric to sell their product, are they doing anything that is feminist?” 

However, other such as Jess Weiner, CEO of Talk to Jess, a consulting firm, claims that we need to “look at brands and say, ‘what else are they doing besides advertising to me?…. Are they being part of the problem or the solution?’” People like Weiner are more accepting of the use of feminism in advertisements. Citing advertisements such as the “Real Beauty” campaign, despite some backlash when it was first introduced in 2004, Dove has since added more ethnically diverse women of various ages, helped create lesson plans, and develop educational workshops geared towards increasing media literacy and female empowerment. 

Overall, I agree with Ziesler and Pozner. With feminism becoming more popular in daily rhetoric, the media, and pop culture, women’s empowerment is at an all time high. I believe that companies such as Secret and Always are taking advantage of the increasing popularity of feminism to sell their products. If a company is not investing in solutions that solve the issue of gender equality, then that company is simply taking advantage of consumers, especially female consumers. However, I also believe that without marketplace feminism, some people would never have been exposed to feminist thought at all. Girls, especially young girls are highly influenced by the media and what they see on the internet and television. Sometimes, learning about female empowerment while watching ads for deodorant on Youtube makes feminist rhetoric more accessible to more people. While I don’t appreciate how some companies are using the feminist movement to their advantage, I don’t think we should do away with marketplace feminism altogether either. 

Image Sources: Dove Thumbnail/Image 

• feminism
• marketing
• St Olaf