Women ads typically capture and reflect the cultural current while presenting knowledge about certain brands. In recent years, thanks to the third-wave feminism movement, there has been a rise in femvertising in the industry. What is exactly femvertising, and how does it work?
Feminism in Advertising
Femvertising, which stands for feminism and advertising, is a form of advertising that shows talents, ideas, portrayals, and voices to empower women and girls. This means an advertisement has to deliver both information on the brand and feminism’s messages to be qualified as one. Currently, the most popular feminism messages in advertising are gender equality and women empowerment.
Empowerment for females in advertising refers to “power to,” which displays a woman’s capacity to control her being. This can be represented by depicting women who overcome obstacles, enjoy themselves, or even staying true to their authentic self.
Gender and Advertisements
Historically, women in advertising are not always portrayed in the most positive light. Past advertisements usually use the male gaze (a pervasive camera technique that objectifies women), even in product advertisements for women. This phenomenon can be seen through the common female stereotypes in ads: (1) perfect mother; (2) great-grandmother; (3) alpha female; (4) beauty bunny; and (5) fashionista (Byrne, 2004).
Even though stereotypes can serve as a tool to tell a story, their usage might be exaggerated and create unrealistic standards. On the one hand, this might generate a sense of urgency and evoke “never enough” feelings among the audience, which is a very practical choice from an economic standpoint. On the other side, it also sparked discussion about the ethics of how we should position women in advertising.
Elements of Femvertising
The main purpose of femvertising is to create a just position for females in advertising. This means femvertising tries to empower women by presenting real women with real experiences. In order to accomplish this, advertisements for women need to showcase the diversity that might deviate from conventional beauty standards. This strategy is designed not only to be more humane but also to broaden the constrictive standard perpetuated in the earlier days.
The social shift forced marketers and advertisers to be more inept at catching social cues. Acknowledgment of women’s objectification needs to be followed by better advertisements. Beyond tapping modern women as a growing target market, femvertising as a piece of media can also solidify the message of equality in society.
