Feminism, in recent years, has become increasingly popular in brand marketing and pop culture. We see it everywhere, adorned on t-shirts to catchy slogans on social media, particularly with companies who want to uphold an image of “wokeness” to the public. But inevitably, does this have the potential to become performative and unrealistic?
Recently, reading Sarah Benet Weiser’s book, Empowered: Popular Feminism and Popular Misogyny, brought this specific issue into question. In summary, she describes how modern-day feminism reinforces capitalist power structures rather than challenges them. Promoting characteristics like “confidence, self-esteem and competence” are influenced by neoliberal values, which emphasise individuality and entrepreneurialism. Instead of being helpful, this personal responsibility projected onto women to become successful completely ignores the systemic nature of patriarchy and its barriers.
This relates to another concept she mentions – the economy of visibility, which is when companies maintain an image of “wokeness” to appear more progressive. So instead of implementing genuine change, feminist messaging prompts the consumer to believe that they can attain whatever they want by being persistent in their hard work and having more ambition.
How does Amazon Fall into this Narrative?
An ad I recently saw from Amazon India in 2021 as part of International Women’s Day, #ChallengeChampionChange, had similar ideas of empowerment that focused on the confidence and perseverance of women in achieving their success. Throughout the video, multiple Indian businesswomen and entrepreneurs recount their narratives of accomplishment, reiterating a stream of inspirational messages. Quotes such as “a woman can do anything if she believes in herself” and “by achieving her dreams, she can become a champion” appear alongside clips of these females hard at work. Rather than being motivational, this fixation on “being confident” reinforces a neoliberal idea that cultivating these qualities will guarantee success. It also implies that women can only achieve empowerment through economic profit, which once again, maintains a capitalist standard.
Although this campaign has the right ideas for celebrating these individual women’s achievements without discrediting them, its underlying message does not consider the structural and ideological disadvantages many other females face. No amount of confidence can do away with the reality of sexism and socio-economic barriers, considering that India still has one of the lowest female labour force participation rates globally. Being confident isn’t a quick fix for systems of oppression.
Suppose we relate this back to Amazon, one of the world’s most extensive e-commerce services whose primary focus is profit and customer satisfaction. It has a historical reputation for maltreating its employees, especially in 2021, when this campaign was released. The company was subject to criticism for poor and unsafe working environments with high injury rates, with strikes occurring globally. Creating an empowerment campaign is a logical step for the company’s commercial interests to deflect from pre-existing claims and prove that they support causes such as women’s rights. However, it is even more ironic that the company, two months later, received five lawsuits from employees regarding gender and race discrimination. These contradictions reinforce how companies often exploit feminist rhetoric for economic advantage rather than inciting change within their work culture.
The Verdict
Corporate choices to uphold feminist discourse are heavily reminiscent of marketplace feminism, where companies leverage ideas of female empowerment to create profit for themselves. The fact that 70 to 80% of consumers are women, it is no wonder that companies like Amazon are trying to tap into this purchasing power. Regardless, there is a stark difference between virtue signalling and implementing change through activism. Brand campaigns that reference feminism, such as #ChallengeChampionChange, are essential for creating awareness for gender equality but must be followed through by concrete action rather than motivational statements.