Feminism Is Not for Sale: When Empowerment Becomes a Marketing Strategy
Feminism is having a moment—or so it seems. From t-shirts emblazoned with slogans like “Girl Power” to multimillion-dollar ad campaigns touting female empowerment, brands everywhere jump on the feminist bandwagon. But behind the glossy packaging and catchy phrases lies a troubling reality: many brands don’t practice what they preach. Instead, they’re using feminism as a marketing ploy, commodifying a movement that has long fought for real change.
What happens when empowerment becomes a product? Are these companies promoting equality, or are they just cashing in on a cultural shift for profit? Let’s look closer at how brands are turning feminism into a business—and why it’s setting the movement back.
Feminism as a Marketing Strategy
When you see brands slapping slogans like “Girl Power” or “The Future is Female” on their products, it’s easy to be drawn in. After all, who wouldn’t want to support a company that aligns with feminist values, right? But there’s a fine line between supporting a movement and exploiting it for profit. Many brands jump on the feminism bandwagon, not because they genuinely care about gender equality, but because it’s profitable.
Take, for instance, Pepsi’s infamous 2017 ad featuring Kendall Jenner, where she hands a can of Pepsi to a police officer during a protest. The ad was clearly meant to tap into the social justice and protest movements, but instead, it trivialized serious issues and painted a simplistic picture of activism. What could have been a powerful statement ended up being a tone-deaf attempt to use feminism as a marketing tool.
The Pink Tax and Faux Empowerment
While brands market feminism, women are still subjected to the "Pink Tax", a term that refers to how products marketed to women are often more expensive than those marketed to men. A 2015 report by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs found that women’s products cost 7% more than men’s on average. So while brands are selling "empowerment" to women, they’re still profiting from gender-based price discrimination.
This isn’t to say that brands should never promote feminism. The problem lies in faux empowerment—when companies make a surface-level commitment to feminism without any substantial action to back it up. It’s easy to print a feminist slogan on a t-shirt, but it’s harder to actually pay women equally, ensure safe working conditions for female employees, or implement policies that promote diversity and inclusion.
Real Brands, Real Examples
One of the biggest offenders is Dove with its "Real Beauty" campaign. At first glance, the campaign appears to promote body positivity and challenge beauty standards. However, a deeper look reveals that while Dove sells self-esteem to women in one ad, its parent company, Unilever, promotes unrealistic beauty standards through its other brands like Fair & Lovely (now called Glow & Lovely), which markets skin-lightening products. This contradictory behaviour leaves us wondering: Is Dove really committed to empowering women, or is it just cashing in on a trend?
Another example is H&M, which launched a feminist-inspired collection while facing accusations of poor working conditions in its factories, many of which employ women. Their feminist message falls flat when you consider the exploitation of female labourers who work in unsafe environments for low wages.
Data Doesn’t Lie
Research shows that this commodification of feminism isn’t just anecdotal. A study conducted by the Women’s Media Center found that 68% of women feel brands use feminism as a marketing strategy without real commitment to the cause. Furthermore, Harvard Business Review reported that while brands are quick to jump on feminist messaging, they often fail to address actual issues such as workplace equality, harassment, and unequal pay.
These numbers highlight a major gap between feminist branding and real action. Brands want to be seen as progressive and supportive of women, but their commitment often ends with the marketing department.
The Cost of Commodification
What’s the real cost of feminism being used as a marketing gimmick? The primary issue is that it dilutes the movement. Feminism is not about catchy slogans or trendy hashtags. It’s about fighting for equality, challenging systemic discrimination, and ensuring that women have the same opportunities as men. When brands reduce feminism to a marketing strategy, they undermine the hard work that activists and feminists have put in for decades.
Moreover, commodification distracts from the real issues at hand. Instead of focusing on achieving actual change, we get caught up in the superficial aspects of the movement. Brands profit from this diluted version of feminism, while women are left with the same struggles they’ve always faced—unequal pay, workplace discrimination, and a lack of representation in leadership roles.
Taking Steps Back
Feminism is not for sale. While many women have fought tirelessly to achieve the progress we see today, the commodification of feminism takes us many steps back. It reduces a powerful movement to a marketing tactic, trivializing the real struggles that women continue to face. It’s time for brands to move beyond slogans and actually commit to the values they claim to support. Because until they do, feminism will remain another tool for profit, rather than a genuine push for equality.
Women deserve better than to have their fight for rights reduced to a clever marketing ploy. Feminism is not a brand, it’s a movement, and it’s time we start treating it that way.
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