Selling Feminism: How Female Empowerment Campaigns Employ Postfeminist Discourses

Windels, Kasey; Champlin, Sara; Shelton, Summer; Sterbenk, Yvette; Poteet, Maddison

doi:10.1080/00913367.2019.1681035

Cited by 54 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…This study adds a new perspective to recent literature that examines consumer responses to femvertising and the ways in which gender empowerment is framed in advertisements (Abitbol and Sternadori 2019;Feng et al 2019;Sobande 2019;Windels et al 2020). We draw upon CSR-washing and corporate hypocrisy literature (Pope and Waerass 2015;Wagner et al 2009) to examine whether companies have invested in internal and external CSR work other than the feel-good messages of their award-winning ads.…”

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confidence: 99%

Is Femvertising the New Greenwashing? Examining Corporate Commitment to Gender Equality

et al. 2021

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This study examined the potential for a new area of corporate social responsibility (CSR) washing: gender equality. Companies are increasingly recognized for advertisements promoting gender equality, termed "femvertisements." However, it is unclear whether companies that win femvertising awards actually support women with an institutionalized approach to gender equality. A quantitative content analysis was performed assessing company leadership team listings, annual reports, CSR reports, and CSR websites of 61 US-based companies (31 award winners and 30 non-winning competitors) to compare the prevalence of internal and external gender-equality CSR activities of companies that have (versus have not) won femvertising awards. When controlling for number of employees and annual revenue, award-winning companies committed to more internal efforts that support women than non-award-winning companies. However, no significant differences were found in the number of external efforts or representation in female leadership between companies with and without awardwinning femvertisements. Overall, a majority of award-winning companies (81%) engaged in less than ten of the possible 23 gender-equality CSR activities, suggesting these companies' female empowerment commercials were often not in line with their broader CSR activities. While more research is needed in this area, we propose the term "fempower-washing" to describe CSR-washing in the context of gender equality. Keywords Femvertising • Corporate social responsibility • CSR advertising • Corporate hypocrisy • CSR-washingAn emerging area of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is activism, wherein companies take stances on sometimes controversial social issues such as LGBTQ+ rights,

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confidence: 99%

Is Femvertising the New Greenwashing? Examining Corporate Commitment to Gender Equality

et al. 2021

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“…Although these types of ads show attractive female models, the models are portrayed in a way that conveys a sense of agency; they are shown to be in control of and embracing their sexuality. The prevalence of these ads is associated with a recent shift in culture, especially in the United States, which encourages women of all shapes and sizes to acknowledge and embrace their own sexuality (Gill, 2008;Windels et al, 2020).…”

Section: Gender (W)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, the findings suggest guidelines to practitioners in the apparel industry in designing their ad campaigns. Many firms in the fashion industry rely solely on sexual appeals when portraying women in ad campaigns, though the past few years have witnessed some applications of female empowerment as ad appeals (Windels et al, 2020). However, the current work is the first to examine sexual appeals and female empowerment in one framework.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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A brave new world: embracing sexuality in advertising for apparel

Kordrostami

2020

JFMM

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PurposeIn light of the recent shift in the US culture, this paper investigates the effectiveness of female sexual empowerment as ad appeal in the apparel industry.Design/methodology/approachStudy 1 aimed to understand consumers' reactions to female sexual empowerment in ads in terms of their attitudes toward the ad, attitudes toward the brand and purchase intention. Study 2 investigated the role of gender in perceptions of female sexual empowerment in ads.FindingsThis research establishes that consumers display positive attitudes toward female sexual empowerment in the apparel advertisement. These attitudes positively influence attitudes toward the brand, which in turn improve purchase intention. These effects are stronger for women than men.Research limitations/implicationsThis research borrows from social power theory to reveal the impact of female sexual empowerment in ads in the apparel industry. Based on the theory of planned behavior, the findings also show that female sexual empowerment can have a positive impact on purchase intention through a serial mediation of attitude toward the ad and brand.Practical implicationsMarketers need to be aware of the impact of female sexual empowerment as ad appeal. Specifically, firms in the apparel industry could benefit from the positive effects of incorporating female sexual empowerment in their campaigns.Originality/valueThis research is the first to investigate the role of female sexual empowerment as ad appeal in improving consumers' responses to ads.

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“…During the same period, public attitudes in the UK have increasingly become influenced by these critical voices with the British Social Attitudes survey evidencing noticeable shifts in rejection of traditional gender roles and gendered comments on appearance (Attler Taylor and Scott 2018). From having negative associations a decade or so ago, 'feminism' has become not just acceptable but even celebrated in popular culture and consumption with celebrities, film stars, high profile corporate executives and neoliberal women and branded events promoting themselves with this movement (Chidgey 2020;Banet-Weiser, Gill, and Rottenberg 2020;Windels et al 2020). After a lengthy campaign from 'No More Page 3', early 2015 saw the final topless model on Page 3.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Blue is for boys: postfeminist continuations of gender, body and hue in UK magazines, 2009–2018

Wigley

Dornelles

2021

Gender, Place & Culture

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From 2009 to 2018, social attitudes towards gender in the UK and other western countries significantly shifted, with greater awareness of gender stereotyping and the objectification of women's bodies in the media due to popular social media campaigns. Arguably, postfeminism has provided a channel in which tropes traditionally critiqued by feminism, such as the objectification or stereotyping of the female body, are appropriated by consumption, and reconceptualised as empowering forms of femininity. In two phases, this study explores if and how this social shift has been translated into how men and women's bodies are presented to male and female audiences, respectively, by magazines that claim to represent and reflect them. Firstly, content of the front covers from six popular men's and women's magazines was analysed to identify the framing, clothing, and staging of the body. A second phase adds further novelty to this study by employing a cultural analytics approach to explore the relationship between gender and hue by analysing the brightness, saturation and hue values of each image. The findings show some continuities in how men and women are presented, despite significant changes in which magazines presented these continuities. Furthermore, the colour attributes of the images underlined significant differences in how men and women are presented for viewing. It is argued that these continuities and changes represent a reinforcement of patriarchal gendered relations (including gendered associations with specific colours) re-imagined through a postfeminist logic.

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Selling Feminism: How Female Empowerment Campaigns Employ Postfeminist Discourses

Cited by 54 publications

References 31 publications

Is Femvertising the New Greenwashing? Examining Corporate Commitment to Gender Equality

Is Femvertising the New Greenwashing? Examining Corporate Commitment to Gender Equality

A brave new world: embracing sexuality in advertising for apparel

Blue is for boys: postfeminist continuations of gender, body and hue in UK magazines, 2009–2018

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