Le blog de Nestore

‍

“I am Claudette. I don't need to justify myself. But the brand itself is a third party entity that tries to give women maximum information, joy and space to experience what they want to experience. That raises the question of what it is. I don't have an answer yet.”‍

Claudette Lovencin, co-founder of Fempo

What surprised me was that a A convinced feminist hesitates to describe her brand as such, while brands seem to be taking up the subject unscrupulously. Same observation when I read the interviews with the founder of Meuf, Claire Succo. However, we identified these two brands as feminists in our Nest'Love (link to the article). Their founders? Yes, without hesitation. And that pervades all of their communication. But what about their brands? No

“Feminist messages are more or less in fashion, and sometimes it can seem opportunistic... That's why I don't position myself as a feminist brand, even though obviously, personally, I'm a feminist. ”

Claire Succo, founder of Meuf

So what is a feminist brand? Or, to extend the argument, what is the role of brands in promoting feminism?

Feminist: a strong case for brands

Brands have long stuck to social standards and strengthened gender stereotypes through advertising stamping. Broadly speaking, to women the laundry and cooking; to men, to cars and financial investments.

We plunge back, not without delight, into the 20th century sexist ads, some excerpts of which can be found here: In 2016, let's fight against sexist stereotypes: No More Cliches

‍

Cooker or woman-object, your choice

Two salient female models emerge from the trends of the 20th century: the housekeeper/cook, who handles brooms and cooks vegetables like no other man, and Femme-Objet. The big prestigious brands rejuvenate their image by “injecting” into their ads sexually aggressive and provocative values.

A representation that is still current, as shown by the figures from the 2017 C.S.A. Out of 2,000 advertising spots analyzed, it emerged that:

1. Les two thirds of the ads featuring characters with A sexualization feature women: 67% vs. 33% for men.
2. Experts are almost exclusively male: 82% vs. 18% female experts.
3. One stereotypical distribution product categories (men to talk about cars and women for body maintenance): 63% for “body maintenance”.

As a matter of fact, cliches have tough skin (and women have soft skin). However, we still observe a paradigm shift starting in the 2010s, with some examples that made an impression.

A paradigm shift - femvertising

Dove was the quickest to catch the trend. Dove's 2013 Real Beauty campaign, which featured an artist drawing women based solely on their personal description and then on the descriptions of other people. The second version of the portraits is much more flattering. Conclusion: “You are more beautiful than you think.”

Dove Real Beauty Sketches | You're More Beautiful Than You Think (6mins)

In 2014, the sanitary protection brand Always followed suit and launched the “Comme une fille” campaign. In a clip publicized During the Super Bowl, the final of the American football championship, she questions stereotypes about women in order to better deconstruct them.
Always #LikeAGirl (To date, the video has had 68 million views).

Many brands then follow this trending, with varying degrees of success: Nike, Yoplait, H&M, L'Oréal or Disney. These ads mark the start of the Femvirtising, the practice of brands to wear messages considered feminist (or at least aimed at restoring women to their rightful place in society) through their advertising campaigns. We regularly find the concepts “”Of empowerment“and the fight against sexual stereotypes and the phenomena of “self-censorship”.

But this sudden interest inEmpowerment of women, for so many years relegated to cleaning and cooking, still raises questions, and we can wonder about the Aim pursued : improve and resolve these prejudices/inequalities/suffering (you can check several answers) or maintain a status quo conducive to maintaining sales of these ranges?

Feminist: societal commitment or marketing positioning?

What is certain is that feminism has become very fashionable. The term “feminism” would have been the word of the year 2017, according to the North American Merriam-Webster dictionary, i.e. the word most consulted by Internet users.

When brands take over feminism

So this naturally whetted the appetite of advertisers. Indeed, nothing new: advertising and brands have always played on social trends to renew their discourse and create new markets. In 2017, Dior released its “We Should All Be Feminists” T-shirt at €550. Worn later by Nathalie Portman, Rihanna or Chiara Ferragni.

“Brands have always picked up the revolts. It only has to do with Che Guevara. They understood that the best way to sell is to keep up with the times.”

Elisabeth Tissier-Desbordes, marketing professor and specialist in gender in advertising.

In addition to the benefits of the products, we are offered a moral benefit, we buy ourselves a political conscience according to Mariette Darrigaud, a semiologist, who mentions a “moral consumer benefit”, which is added to the cosmetic benefit:

“Women are waiting for an empowerment benefit, regardless of the object we are talking about, even for a beauty cream, even for a perfume.”

Causette was ironic about this. in her April 2017 store entitled “Become Superwoman in two hours” because empowerment was omnipresent, “to the point that in 2017 if you are not empowered, it is as if you had missed your feminist diploma...”

Feminism sells, and so much the better!

So yes, not all businesses have woken up feminist. Sophie Gourion also recalls that feminism was already a selling point in the 50s and buying a bra symbolized a Liberation of women.

Even if the intention is mercantile, we can look forward to two things:

1. talking about gender equality, fighting stereotypes, and promoting women's diversity has become fashionable,
2. the more messages like these, the more awareness there will be: virtuous advertising?

Christelle Delarue, founder of Mad&Woman, described as the “first independent and feminist advertising agency” goes even further, and declares that it is the order of duty of advertisers to promote a new image :

“As advertisers, promoting the empowerment of women is a moral and social responsibility.”

What should we expect from brands for women?

Nevertheless, there is something striking in the messages transmitted. In an article in the Guardian in 2015, Nosheen Iqbal shows that through their slogans, videos and hashtags with high media potential, these brands mostly put forward the idea that women lack self-confidence, and should feel better in Their bodies, without addressing the real issues such as gender inequalities.

So what should we really expect from brands? Can femvertising be more than an advertising campaign?

Recovery and genderwashing

Nosheen Iqbal's words invite us to dive back into some statistics, and there are numbers that don't lie. According to the Ministry of Labour,

• the difference between the gross wage income of men and women is 24%. For the same position and skill level, the average wage gap falls to 9.3%. In the public service, the gap remains significant, of the order of 12%.
• The famous “glass ceiling” lives on: in nearly one large company out of two, men represent 90% of the highest salaries.
  

Which brings us to the question of Gender-Washing : the marketing strategy of companies aimed at presenting themselves as concerned about women's rights, and of their emancipation... much more than they actually are, in their daily practices.

The example commonly mentioned is Dove, which on the one hand communicates about the beauty of women and on the other hand, deploys a communication arsenal at the opposite end of the spectrum with Axe.

Corporate commitment to the feminist cause

So let's pay attention to internal policies and to the real commitment of companies, rather than their advertising campaigns. And let's value companies that demonstrate real commitments :

L'Oréal, with its program Women for Science, values the work of women scientists.

Always, with its “testimonies” format, intends to develop proximity with a Female target very young to trivialize the rules.

Like L'Oréal, Verizon in the United States encourages young girls to choose the path of Science (a field in which only 18% of engineers are women).

We can also mention Ypsylone, a ready-to-wear brand that donates 50% of its profits to the Maison des Femmes, Monki (from the H&M group), which donates 5,000 menstrual cups to women in Kenya, or AgentgirlPower, an Arab brand supported by the activist Maryam Montague, which advocates gender equality.

Some brands participate inemancipation of women, deconstruct stereotypes, contribute to programs of public utility, and for these reasons, should be encouraged.

And consumers in all of this?

Let's pay attention to these initiatives and let's give priority to the brands that are behind it. Let's also condemn those who don't play the game.

But above all, let's become aware of our role as consumers in shaping the world of tomorrow. If brands take advantage of societal trends and translate them into campaigns and actions, it is up to us to assert our values, and brands will follow suit. Some will even make them founding principles.

There may not be a feminist brand, but some exist for changing women's daily lives. And we can only encourage them.