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Commodity Feminism

Commodity Feminsim references a particular notion of which feminist philosophies have been adopted for marketable purposes, used for their social and political importance for women worldwide and adapted into the form of a commodity thus offered to consumers, in the form of advertising.

Marketing Strategy

Commodity feminism in its simplest form is a technique in modern media where the social and/or political issues of feminism are used to market a brand, product or company. The concept of commodity feminism was introduced into mainstream media to address the sexist imagery of women in advertisements Many female consumers felt as though advertisers traditionally depicted women as desirable objects by over sexualizing the female body to attract consumers to buy products. Commodity feminism was developed as a new marketing strategy that was prompted by the dissatisfaction of how objectified and misrepresented women are in the media. Instead, commodity feminism represents feminist ideals in conjunction with products, stimulating consumers to better connect with the merchandise that presumably represented womanhood accurately. It links a particular movement or social problem to a product, prompting the individual to identify with the companies that support it. Commodity feminism is a specific marketing strategy that capitalizes on feminism, and re-brands ideologies of feminist movements. Commodity feminism uses advertising techniques to integrate brands that identify with feminist ideologies into the everyday lives of the modern woman. It is believed by Rashmee Kumar a scholar, that this capitalist ploy entrenches a false apparition of progress into the thoughts of the positive optimists, when in fact real change cannot be delivered through capitalist ideologies . In addition to the controversy and negative opinions over the use of feminist ideologies for capitalist purpose, many have credited this movement as empowering and positive. The impact has transcended world wide and addressed an issue of importance and shed light on the struggles of beauty for women in today's society . The cultural shift commodity feminism has had on advertising is groundbreaking, and companies that target women have been to be more likely to use a model free from photo shop and use women of average proportion with diverse attributes. This provides a positive reinforcement of allowing women to be imperfect and not feel guilty about it, it acknowledges women as human beings

Origin of Theory

Commodity feminism manifests itself as a theory that examines feminism and the capitalist market. It is based upon the work of Karl Marx’s analysis of commodity fetishism, a theory that investigates consumer capitalism and its relationship to social ideologies. Commodity fetishism is the belief or assumption that to properly asses the whole value of a product, it must be done so in relation to monetary value Commodity fetishism links the relationship between consumption and the consumer on a cultural level. To relate the theory of commodity fetishism with commodity feminism, viewing both from a cultural standpoint explores both the negative and positive aspects of said theories. Commodity feminism directly correlates to the practices of advertising under the guidelines of commodity fetishism. The use of both theories takes the fundamental value of a product and creates a new value. Instead of the products value being derived from the materials and labour itself, it is valued by its demand, monetary value and cultural value. The theory of commodity fetishism explains how individuals gain satisfaction from inanimate objects, thus relating the use of social and political ideologies attached to products, to evoke a more gratifying response from consumers. Sexual fetishism is a component to Marxist theory and resembles attributes much like commodity feminism as it ascribes personal qualities to a commodity in an attempt to persuade consumers to purchase such product. The use of sexual fetishism is the opposite of commodity feminism as it uses the female body as a sex symbol. Commodity feminism does the opposite, it represents females as individuals free from judgment or expectations. The basis of commodity feminism manifests itself from the theories of Karl Marx on commodity fetishism and sexual fetishism, as its basic principle is derived from the latter, as a new reformed theory of commodity fetishism based upon feminist ideology.

Feminist Ideologies

Feminism is a movement that succeeds on the beliefs and ideas of social and political equality for all women. The structure of feminism is powered by ideology that shape the direction for the movement, and what strategies will prove beneficial to achieving the goals and missions. Many feminist movements participate in strategies such as lawsuits to fight for different issues concerning the well being of women and the fair treatment of women on all fronts within society. Today, feminism is examined under a different scope, it has been woven into capitalism and popular culture as commodity fetishism. The initial concept of commodity feminism was introduced to reflect the feminist practices to combat issues such as stereotypes, sexism and patriarchy specifically within the media. It takes the feminist movement and goals and displays them within advertisements to create another avenue of change for women world wide. On the other hand commodity feminism has also been examined as a movement that has little or nothing to do with the political aspect of feminism, much like commodity fetishism has nothing to do with the product itself Julie Dowsett has critically examined the effects of commodity feminism, and has concluded that the use of feminism to promote or sell a commodity has suppressed feminist activists’ and their fight to challenge current beliefs of women in society.

The Social Influence and Cultural Impact

The social implication discussed by scholars surrounding the use of feminism as a tool to attach feminist ideologies with commodities has been argued as controversial by Julie Dowsett . The practice of commodity feminism exemplifies the ways in which advertisers attach social meaning to merchandise to increase revenue. Research done by Julie Dowsett suggests the notion that commodity feminism targets a vulnerable demographic with a powerful message unethically. The Dove Real Beauty Campaign is one of many, but the most popular and prominent campaign in recent media that capitalizes on the social and political causes of feminism. Dowsett explains that manufacturing feminism into something that can be bought hinders the progress and revolutionary history of feminism. There exists multiple negative opinions on this practice of social marketing, providing evidence of negative implications in the use of feminism as a commodity to contest socially constructed beauty norms. These implications have been examined by scholars such as Dowsett and suggest that despite the overwhelming effort to appear as advocates for a cause, the Dove Real Beauty Campaign still reiterates beauty as a value for which women should use as a measure of self worth. The concept of commodity feminism as a revolutionist movement in modern media has been critically analyzed and contested. The techniques of associating realistic ideologies to products strategically creates brand loyalty between the company and consumer. The social impact of using feminism as a means to advertise, allows modern consumers to feel a part of the revolution. To counteract the negative claims others are speaking out upon the revolution of The Dove Real Beauty Campaign, and what it has provided in a positive retrospect. The main goal of the campaign was to celebrate women of all shape, size, colour and ethnic origin . The campaign uses non-traditional models, it addresses stereotypes surrounding gender and has created the forefront of inspiring other brands to follow Dove in their strategy to deplete sexist advertising within the media