Selling Feminism

Tania Modleski concluded a notion that mass culture is condemned as a “feminised” culture. At first thought, it sounds as if Modleski refers to “feminine” in a derogatory way. However, that is not the point of Modleski’s notion. There are different outlets of media that try to advertise to the masses: T.V., radio, movies, etc. Yet, there is one form of media that has significant exposure and influence: commericials. Commericals are common media tools used to advertise on an array of products and businesses. Yet, there is a catch: a major portion of commericials are targeted at women. The average person could probably name some of the most common commericials that are classified as “feminine” For example, make-up, fashion, feminine products, or hair products. Yet, commercials don’t just try to sell “feminine,” they also try to sell “feminism.”

So, what is selling feminine? This is quite easy to identify. As stated earlier, women are the prime candidates to advertise fashion, makeup lines, and commonly, cleaning products. However, there are other kinds of commercials targeted at women; for example, car commercials. Car commercials are infamous for trying to sell feminine. One type of car commercial that does this is the SUV commercial. These commercials explicitly and implicitly try to sell “feminine.” They explicitly sell feminine because women are usually featured; specifically, the women are actresses representing mothers. Of course, some SUV commercials feature men, but for the most part women are the stars. When one thinks of SUVs, the thought of the busy, multitasking, soccer mom is attached to this type of car. This attributes to how feminine is implicitly sold by SUV commercials. They are fit for a this type of woman(a mother) because an SUV is strong, durable, secure, and reliable, which is what a woman needs. In fact, the SUV could even be a metaphor for a man. In addition, on a social level, SUVs are generally thought as soccer mom cars. Conclusively, SUVs are characterized as feminine.

There is another side to car commercials, as well; they try to sell “feminism.” The other spectrum is sports car commercials, which feature women drivers. Obviously, the idea of a woman driving a sports car is supposed to be earth-shattering. The representation is meant to illustrate women reaching the status of men in the workplace( i e. women becoming CEOs)and in society. This type of woman is portrayed as the modern-day, independent, working woman. However, that’s not all. This woman also has to be slender, exotic, youthful-looking, sexy, and walk out of her new sports toy in stiletto heels. Maybe driving in stiletto heels is supposed to be earth-shattering.

The portrayal of women in these different types of commercials begs the question, can’t mothers be feminists, too? Do you have to be a woman in a power position to represent yourself as part of feminism or being a feminist? Overall, although commercials like these try to represent the modern woman, it fails to do so. Maybe the “new woman” is most likely a working woman who earns her own salary. However, she is not the only face of feminism. Feminists can be stay-at-home mothers; they can be young woman, older women, women of different ethnicities and backgrounds. There are no qualifications to be defined as a “feminist.” The only solid qualification to be categorized as a feminist would probably be that you must believe that women deserve equal treatment and status in society with men. That’s hardly a qualification. Maybe one day, car commercials, or commercials in general, will be more fluid in presenting women. Furthermore, maybe the mass media may evolve and not classify particular products as simply “feminine” or specifically, feminist.