Zahra Shafei, cultural researcher
It was 2019 when Serena Williams, the world tennis champion, appeared in Nike’s advertising campaign with the slogan “Dream Crazier” to convey this global brand’s message of support to female athletes striving to break barriers and defy expectations. That same year, American track and field champion Allyson Felix revealed in an interview the discriminatory conditions in her contract with the company: “I asked Nike to contractually guarantee that I wouldn’t be punished if I didn’t perform at my best in the months surrounding childbirth.” The company’s response to the requests of this female athlete, who only wanted to “dream crazier,” was: “Know your place and just run!”
Corporate Greed and Feminist marketing: Empowerment or consumerism?
Feminism, praised as a movement advocating for women’s rights and fighting for gender equality, has always claimed to work toward elevating women’s status and supporting them against the exploitative capitalist system. However, the slogans of feminist activists regarding the “fight against economic oppression” and “corporate greed” have turned into actions entirely serving consumerist culture.
The use of terms such as women’s empowerment and gender equality advocacy has recently become a reliable marketing strategy for corporations. Almost all major global brands target women in advertising campaigns, employ slogans tailored for girls, and expand targeted online advertising with such themes. This is because research has shown that 86% of women use social media for purchase recommendations, evaluation, and advice, and numerous studies have also shown that consumers prefer to buy from companies that reference social issues in their advertisements.
For example, in 2004, Dove launched the Real Beauty advertising campaign, which took a critical stance against Eurocentric beauty standards, emphasizing that beauty comes in all colors, sizes, and features. The campaign asserted that women should not lose confidence due to rigid beauty standards that objectify them. As a result of this campaign—still praised by advertising and marketing firms as one of the most successful promotional strategies—Dove soaps became the most popular soap brand in the US, topped the sales charts of Unilever (the parent company of Dove), and boosted sales revenue from $2.4 billion in 2004 to $4 billion in 2014 thanks to the campaign.[1]
Concurrently, Unilever, Dove's parent company, which has publicly positioned itself against Eurocentric beauty standards, employs conventional methods of sexualizing women in advertisements for its other brands. Moreover, in Asian countries where women tend to have darker complexions, the company markets skin-lightening creams, thereby promoting beauty standards that align with those of Caucasian populations.
After all, capitalism still profits from women’s lack of confidence and self-esteem. No matter what Dove’s advertisements say about real beauty, the system remains unchanged. The self-care industry, now a $600 billion global market, presents spending on skincare and beauty products as a form of activism. L’Oréal, with its slogan “Because you’re worth it,” tells women that their self-worth is tied to consumerism.
Corporations’ strategies for leveraging women’s online time for advertising purposes have also given influencers a significant role in this system. Influencers attract audiences through motivational content, fostering a sense of closeness with their followers, and drawing them into an intimate atmosphere. At the same time, by showcasing appearances that align with advertisers’ ideals of beauty and portraying a flawless lifestyle, they create insecurity among their audience—only to then convince them that they need to buy more and more. Statistics show that 69% of consumers trust the recommendations of influencers they follow.
At this stage, what remains of the clichéd actions and ineffective slogans of feminist activists is the purchase of an illusion. Buying a T-shirt with a feminist slogan printed on it—most likely sewn by an underpaid child laborer in an Asian sweatshop—or purchasing a cosmetic product branded with a feminist theme, or spending money on this product and that brand that claim to support women’s rights and equality in their ads, defines the current state of feminist activism. Therefore, in a blatant paradox, these corporations, while using their attractive slogans about women’s empowerment and boosting their confidence—telling them “You are enough”—simultaneously instill the belief that in order to improve their feeling and boost their self-confidence, “no matter how much you buy, it will never be enough.” As a result, women who lack purchasing power are sidelined, excluded from the appealing messages these brands promote.
Beneath the glow of billboards adorned with images of wealthy and powerful women—at least as defined by feminist and capitalist narratives—lies a reality of exploitation and abuse. Nearly all of these glamorous corporations, with their flashy advertisements and hollow slogans, have outsourced their production to Asian countries such as Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Vietnam. In these nations, where regulations and oversight are lacking, issues such as unsafe working conditions, forced labor, and child labor are widespread. Many well-known brands in the sports, fashion, and beauty industries are tied to factories and sweatshops operating under such conditions, producing their goods in these exploitative environments. In the face of such exploitation and misery, feminist-themed advertising serves as a cover, keeping consumers captivated by these slogans, making them perceive their excessive shopping as part of a civil struggle against gender inequality, and allowing them to feel a sense of purpose in their materialistic consumption.
As stated in the remarks of the Leader of the Revolution during a meeting with various groups of women in the fall of 1403 (2024), the primary goal of feminist movements has been to exploit women’s presence and participation as a cheap labor force, serving factories and benefiting the capitalist system—albeit under the humanitarian guise of “women’s freedom and financial independence.” Here, too, behind the false advertising slogans of corporations and brands that claim to support women’s rights, sinister hands are at work, seeking to turn women into insatiable consumers who derive their identity and self-worth from purchasing goods from billion-dollar corporations.
(The views expressed in this article are author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of Khamenei.ir.)
[1] Allen, Emma. "Jess Weiner and the dove real beauty campaign: selling feminism for profit or social change?." Women Leading Change: Case Studies on Women, Gender, and Feminism 6.1 (2022): 18-37.
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