Consumers and the society as a whole are increasingly demanding companies to take their social responsibility and work actively for gender equality. Companies have therefore begun to use feminist messages in their advertising, also known as femvertising. Femvertising canbe described as advertising that strives to challenge norms about gender roles and body ideals, as well as empower women to achieve gender equality. If companies are not perceivedas genuine in their femvertising and use feminist messages to increase their sales, this can be classified as femwashing. The aim of this study is to examine young adults’ attitude towards femvertising and femwashing. Thus, young adults’ general attitude, the correlation between attitude towards femvertising and femwashing, and also which factors that can affect young adults’ attitude are investigated. Based on previous research, seven hypotheses were formulated. The data collection method for this study was a quantitative digital survey. There sult shows that young adults generally have a positive attitude towards femvertising and a negative attitude towards femwashing. The correlation between attitude towards femvertising and femwashing can be considered as strong. Gender, political opinion and identification as a feminist or not are factors that can influence young adults’ attitude towards femvertising and femwashing. Specifically, women, left-wing sympathizers and feminists tend to be more positive towards femvertising and more negative towards femwashing, compared to men, right-wing sympathizers and non-feminists. The result also shows that women are more positive to femvertising and more negative to femwashing because they tend to be both feminists and left-wing sympathizers to a greater extent than men. Based on theory about gender in the media, postfeminism and advertising, the result is analyzed and discussed. / Konsumenter och samhället i stort ställer allt högre krav på att företag ska ta sitt sociala ansvar och aktivt arbeta för jämställdhet. Företag har därmed börjat använda feministiska budskap i sin marknadsföring, även känt som femvertising. Femvertising är marknadsföring som strävar efter att utmana normer kring könsroller och kroppsideal samt stärka kvinnor för att uppnå jämställdhet. Om företag inte upplevs genuina i sin femvertising och istället utnyttjar feministiska budskap för att öka sin försäljning, kan detta klassas som femwashing. Syftet med denna studie är att kartlägga unga vuxnas attityd till femvertising och femwashing. Därmed undersöks unga vuxnas generella attityd, sambandet mellan attityd till femvertising och femwashing samt vilka faktorer som kan påverka unga vuxnas attityd. Baserat på tidigare forskning utformades sju hypoteser. Datainsamlingsmetoden för studien var en kvantitativ digital enkät. Resultatet visar att unga vuxna generellt har en positiv attityd till femvertising och en negativ attityd till femwashing. Sambandet mellan attityd till femvertising och femwashing kan konstateras vara starkt. Kön, politisk åskådning och identifiering som feminist eller ej är faktorer som kan påverka unga vuxnas attityd till femvertising och femwashing. Specifikt tenderar kvinnor, vänstersympatisörer och feministeratt vara mer positiva till femvertising samt mer negativa till femwashing, i jämförelse med män, högersympatisörer och icke-feminister. Resultatet visar även att kvinnor är mer positivatill femvertising och mer negativa till femwashing på grund av att de tenderar att vara både feminister och vänstersympatisörer i större utsträckning än män. Utifrån teori om kön i media, postfeminism samt marknadsföring analyseras och diskuteras resultatet.

Denna studie handlar om representationen den menstruerande kvinnan i reklam från Bodyform mellan 2004–2018. I studien undersöks forskningsfrågorna: Hur ser representationen av den menstruerande kvinnan ut om man tittar på reklamfilmer från Bodyform mellan 2004 - 2018? Hur och om kan man argumentera för att reklamfilmen Bloodnormal från Bodyform bidrar till en förändring av diskursen kring den menstruerande kvinnan i reklamfilm? Frågorna i studien besvaras med hjälp av en diskursanalys baserad på teorier om den manliga blicken, stereotyper i reklam, diskurs & representation. Materialet som analyseras är tre reklamfilmer från Bodyform. Resultatet av studien bekräftar stereotypa bilder av den menstruerande kvinnan i tidigare reklamfilmer från Bodyform. Studien bekräftar även en förändring av den stereotypa representationen av den menstruerande kvinnan i reklamfilmen Bloodnormal, jämfört med det tidigare materialet från Bodyform. Denna nya representation fungerar som ett motstånd mot normerna i de tidigare reklamfilmerna från 2004 och 2009.

Whilst gender equality has moved forward in recent years in Scandinavian countries like Norway and Sweden, there are still significant financial gaps between the genders. According to several scholars, women tend to invest less than men, which leads to consequences such as women having less financial capital wealth and lower pensions. The perception of investing and the banking and financial industry are still perceived as male-dominated by society. Linked to societal perceptions, advertisements have been discussed to influence consumers' perceptions of norms and stereotypes in society. Femvertising is a recently emerged advertising concept that empowers women and challenges concurrent norms and stereotypes about the female gender in society. Furthermore, organizations taking a stance for a social cause through advertisements has become a trend in recent years, where brand activism has been encountered in the context. However, taking a stance for a social issue can be a risky action from a brand, as corporations jeopardize harming their brand image if consumers do not appreciate the message they are trying to communicate.  The academic research on femvertising in the context of male-dominated industries has been surprisingly scarce, where previous scholars suggest further studies in this context is needed. Little to no research has investigated the usage of femvertising in advertisements for the banking industry, nor its influence on female consumers and their image of the brand. This study’s purpose is to investigate how the commercial bank DNB's use of femvertising influences female consumers and their image of the brand. We aim to fill the discovered research gap through studying a Norwegian bank that tries to empower women and take a stand in their advertisements for financial gender equality. For that reason, semi-structured interviews were conducted with one manager from the Norwegian bank DNB and nine female consumers with a solid connection to Norway. The manager from DNB was chosen for his expertise and knowledge of the bank’s campaign #huninvesterer. The other respondents were purposely sampled based on their female gender and strong connection to Norway, as we wanted respondents who already knew of DNB from before the interviews.  The thematic analysis presented several similarities between the female respondents' perception of DNB’s brand image and the manager’s description of the bank’s desired brand identity. The use of femvertising was mostly perceived as something positive and inspiring due to its empowering elements and challenging of female stereotypes, presenting a diversity of women, but had downsides of being too female focused, where several female respondents expressed certain skepticism to the campaign’s exclusive focus on women. In common for all respondents was how they perceived the bank’s stand on the socio-political issue as eligible for a large bank. The overall opinion of the influential effect on the bank’s brand image was suggested to be strengthened, although the results varied to a certain extent.  The study provides requested empirical data and better knowledge and understanding of femvertising used in a male-dominated industry. Nevertheless, further studies are needed to nuance the results as the perspectives of males and a more diverse age span among females could enrich the findings of this thesis.

The purpose of this study is to examine, based on a qualitative semiotic image analysis, how feminist aspects are used by companies for commercial purposes. The starting point for the study is a critical feminist perspective with a theoretical background in the complex discussions about postfeminism, commodified feminism, femwashing and femvertising. Of which an in-depth study of postfeminist discussions of individualism, girl power and empowerment. The study will examine the razor blade company Estrid's two campaigns: Shave and misbehave (2019) and Save. Shave. Whatever (2020). The aim of the study is that in a tripartite analysis consisting of; body hair, shaving and the environment show how today's neoliberal society often uses political and social issues for a capitalist and commercial purpose. Based on the campaigns, analyze how Estrid portrays women, body hair and feminism in relation to their products. The result that emerged from the analysis showed that Estrid strives to break stereotypes and express feminist values within its brand strategy. This is because it repeatedly shows normalization around body hair. The conclusion also showed that as a brand, it is difficult to produce a genuine brand strategy, with feminsit values. Estrid's focus on feminist statements in their campaigns is influenced by postfeminist discussions, with messages such as individualism and empowerment, where new expectations of women are created instead of focusing on criticizing gender structural inequalities.

Denna uppsats har undersökt hur Libresse har använt sig av det retoriska tilltalet för att nå ut och påverka sin avsedda målgrupp i reklamkampanjen #wombstories. En semiotisk filmanalys har genomförts där resultatet har analyserats utifrån teorier om kommodifierad feminism, wokeness och femvertising. Frågeställningen i uppsatsen har varit, Hur används känslomässiga retoriska tilltal i förhållande till kommodifierad feminism, wokeness och femvertising i Libresse reklamfilm #wombstories? Som avgränsning har enbart en sekvens i reklamfilmen analyserats som porträtterar missfall hos ett lesbiskt par. Resultatet visade att Libresse använder sig av musik, ljud, tystnad, animation och skådespeleri för att förhöja känslan av det retoriska tilltalet där patos var det tilltal som var mest påtagligt. Kommodifierad feminism, wokeness och femvertising representerades genom tecken som kännetecknar termen. Slutsatsen blev att representationen blir ett ställningstagande av Libresse där de vill visa att de är allierade med de individer som möts av de största strukturella orättvisorna och sociala diskrimineringarna i samhället. / This paper has examined how Libresse have used the rhetorical appeal to reach out and influence their intended target group in the advertising campaign #wombstories. A semiotic film analysis has been carried out where the results have been analysed based on theories of commodified feminism, wokeness and femvertising. The question in the essay has been, How are emotional rhetorical appeals used in relation to commodified feminism, wokeness and femvertising in Libresse commercial #wombstories? As a delimitation, only one sequence in the commercial has been analyzed that portrays miscarriage in a lesbian couple. The result showed that Libresse used music, sound, silence, animation and acting to enhance the sense of the rhetorical appeal in which pathos was the most noticeable. Commodified feminism, wokeness and femvertising were represented by signs that distinguish the terms. The conclusion was that the representation shows that Libresse wants to be allies of the individuals who face the greatest structural injustices and social discrimination in society.