Return to search

Selling Empowerment: A Critical Analysis of Femvertising

Thesis advisor: Michael Serazio / This thesis explores the impact of femvertising on representations of women,

its relation to and conversation with third wave feminism as a growing social

movement, and its extension of a brand’s dedication to corporate social

responsibility. Feminist critical discourse analysis from a third wave perspective

was used to conduct qualitative visual and textual analysis of three different

femvertising campaigns: Dove’s “Campaign for Real Beauty,” Always’ “Like a Girl”

campaign, and Pantene’s “Shine Strong” campaign. Although femvertising diversifies

the representation of women and girls in the media by challenging restrictive

beauty standards and damaging rhetoric, it fails to accurately represent or reference

the third wave movement by shying away from the feminist label and omitting

mentions of intersectionality, sexuality, and storytelling. In addition, in order for

femvertising to seem genuine rather than manipulative, the campaign must reflect a

sustained effort on behalf of the brand to empower women and girls through

philanthropic efforts and organizational partnerships. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Communication.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:BOSTON/oai:dlib.bc.edu:bc-ir_107483
Date January 2017
CreatorsHunt, Alexandra Rae
Source SetsBoston College
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
RightsCopyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted.

Page generated in 0.0019 seconds