A Study on Femvertising Strategy in Advertisements with the Theme of International Working Women’s Day
Gülten Adalı Aydın, Şükrü AydınAdvertising is a changing phenomenon that evolves in parallel with social changes, that is, advertising is influenced by social movements as much as it influences society. The gains achieved by feminist movements in the social sphere provide opportunities for addressing problems in media representation. Scholars observed that advertising frequently uses the femvertising strategy, which is inspired by the struggle for women’s rights and employed by major brands in recent years, to address and celebrate the original meaning and importance of the International Working Women’s Day (IWWD) every March 8. The main objective of this study is to elucidate the use of this strategy in advertisements, to determine which elements are highlighted, and, from this viewpoint, to clarify the manner through which gender stereotypes reproduced by advertisements are changing the trends in femvertising. In line with this objective, we analyzed advertisements published in 2021 along the theme of IWWD. We employed the purposive sampling technique and content analysis method and examined the use of elements related to the femvertising strategy according to category. The results indicate that the advertisements accentuate and highlight women’s power, female courage, and success in terms of the value given to women, the place of women in the labor market, employment rates. Moreover, these advertisements present various objectives, such as equality, fair division of labor, destruction of prejudices, and the transformation of traditional gender roles. The study concluded that gender stereotypes transmitted and reproduced through advertisements could be subverted and transformed by increasing the visibility of various issues related to women’s rights and by creating awareness for viewers.
8 Mart Dünya Emekçi Kadınlar Günü Temalı Reklamlarda Femvertising Stratejisinin Kullanımı Üzerine Bir Araştırma
Gülten Adalı Aydın, Şükrü AydınReklam toplumsal değişimlere paralel olarak değişen, dönüşen bir olgudur ve toplumu etkilediği gibi aynı zamanda toplumsal hareketlerden de etkilenmektedir. Feminizm hareketinin toplumsal alandaki kazanımları medya temsillerindeki sorunların giderilmesi için de bir fırsat olarak görülmektedir. Son yıllarda büyük markalar tarafından kullanılan ve ilhamını feminizmin hak arayışından alan femvertising stratejisinin 8 Mart Dünya Emekçi Kadınlar Günü’nün anlam ve önemini reklamlara yansıtmada başvurulan önemli bir strateji olduğu düşünülmektedir. Bu stratejinin reklamlarda nasıl kullanıldığı, hangi temaların ön plana çıkarıldığı ve buradan hareketle reklamlarda yeniden üretilen toplumsal cinsiyet kalıplarının geçirdiği değişimi ortaya koymak bu çalışmanın ana amacıdır. Bu amaç doğrultusunda, araştırma kapsamında 2021 yılında yayınlanan, 8 Mart Dünya Emekçi Kadınlar Günü temalı reklamlar incelenmiştir. Amaçlı örneklem yönteminin kullanıldığı çalışmada araştırma sorularına içerik analizi yöntemi ile cevap aranırken; reklamlarda femvertising öğelerinin kullanımı tematik analiz ile incelenmektedir. Analiz sonucunda incelenen reklamlarda kadınların gücüne, cesaret ve başarılarına, kadınlara verilen değere, kadının çalışma hayatındaki yerine, istihdam oranlarına odaklanıldığı; dahası eşitlik, adil iş bölümü, önyargıların yıkımı, geleneksel cinsiyet rollerinin dönüşümü gibi olguların ön plana çıkarıldığı görülmektedir. Yapılan araştırma ile reklamlar aracılığıyla yeniden üretilen toplumsal cinsiyete ilişkin kalıp yargıların yine reklamlar yoluyla dönüştürülebileceği sonucuna varılmıştır.
Although International Working Women’s Day (IWWD) originated from women’s struggle for rights and equality, it is deviating from its actual political origins and is evolving into an occasion of celebration and gift-giving as result of the influence of popular culture. Mass media plays a significant role in this phenomenon by decontextualizing special days, such as international holidays and civil awareness days, through advertisements to initiate a consumption frenzy. For example, the advertising industry has reduced IWWD, which is celebrated every March 8, to a promotional tool similar to any other special event. In particular, many brands approach consumers with advertisements specific to this day. In addition, advertising has experienced several changes in parallel with social transformations, that is, it is reciprocally influenced by social movements. In this regard, the gains achieved by feminist movements in the social sphere provide opportunities to address problems in media representation. The femvertising strategy, which is inspired by the struggle for women’s rights and utilized by major brands in recent years, is frequently employed to address and celebrate the original meaning and importance of this particular day in advertising. Against this background, the study analyzes the use of the femvertising strategy in advertisements published in 2021 under the theme of IWWD. Investigating and analyzing the most recent advertisement samples from 2021 is important for obtaining the most up-to date advertisement texts that employ the femvertising strategy, which is a relatively new phenomenon globally, to elucidate its nature and effects. In addition, focusing on ads themed under IWWD without making sectoral differentiation is preferable. In this manner, the understanding of the emergence point of the strategy in connection with the feminist movement can be enhanced. Moreover, its reflections can be perceived more conveniently in terms of implementation. This study employed the purposive sampling technique and content analysis method. Furthermore, it analyzed the use of elements related to the femvertising strategy in advertisements based on the following categories:
• criticizing gender stereotypes or reversing gender stereotypes;
• emphasizing women’s employment or seeking equality;
• using different skills about being a woman;
• using language that supports the natural aspects of women;
• supporting woman-empowerment projects/sponsorship;
• destroying prejudices;
• promoting equal division of labor.
Moreover, this study intends to elucidate the manner in which IWWD-themed advertisements utilize the femvertising strategy and to delineate the semantic and formal features of this distinct form of advertisement. Adopting the qualitative research design, this study prioritizes media channels most effectively used by advertising to reach its consumer base in terms of sample selection. In this context and given the results of previous research, advertisements broadcasted on television and those that reach consumers via social media/video-sharing sites, such as YouTube, were included in the sampling. Thus, the study presents the following research questions:
1) In their advertisements, how do brands describe being a woman?
2) Do advertising texts subvert the discourse on gender stereotypes?
3) Compared to the results of the previous studies, is there a change in the common understanding of gender roles?
4) Do advertisements promote gender equality?
5) How is the femvertising strategy utilized in advertisements?
6) Which elements of the femvertising strategy are included in the advertisements?
The results indicate that the selected advertisements accentuated and highlighted women’s power, female courage, and success, as well as the value given to women and their place in the labor market, employment rates, and objectives (e.g., equality, fair division of labor, destruction of prejudice, and the transformation of traditional gender roles). Furthermore, a significant result of the study is IWWD-themed advertisements position women in the public sphere instead of domestic spaces, as previously practiced. In their working life, women are depicted as successfully performing nearly all types of professions in the sample advertisements. In terms of voice-overs or off-voices used in advertisements, the female voice was used in three-quarters of the sample. This ratio is relatively striking compared with the results of previous studies that focused on the relationship between gender and advertising. Although efforts to prove the existence and worth of women in every field are seemingly blowing the winds of change on advertising texts, the rate of using the female voice for voice-overs is an important parameter for understanding the change and transformation being undertaken by advertising. This study found slogans and hashtags for advertisements adopted supportive language based on values, such as equality; women’s power; criticism of prejudices; and support and empowerment for women. Alternatively, the study observed that several brands commemorate this day with a broad definition, such as “Women’s Day,” which deviates from class inequality and determination instead of the expression “International Working Women’s Day,” which is a day for remembering the labor struggle of working-class women. The study concludes that previous gender stereotypes transmitted and reproduced through advertisements could be subverted and transformed by enhancing the visibility of various problems related to women’s rights and creating awareness for viewers.