Commodity Feminism

When reading Chapter 3 of “Practice of Looking,” I was drawn to the section about “commodity feminism” in which concepts of empowerment and strength are “translated into the mandate that working out, producing a tight, lean, muscled female body, and consuming products such as sunning shoes is equivalent to having control over ones life.” I immediately thought about Nike ads, because in my Advertising class they often come up in conversation. Nike is one company that successfully promotes respect for females, their bodies, and a sense of empowerment in regards to their decisions. Nike’s ads speak to women directly, encouraging them that rather than being overly critical of themselves, they should embrace their bodies and their authenticity. Nike takes the stance that it can supply these products to contribute to the lives of these women, but at the same time makes women feel confident and powerful themselves, making it seem as if the decision change and develop as a person must come from them.

An ad campaign that I immediately recalled involving this type of Nike strategy attempted to show women that they are respected as human beings, not just bodily shells. At the time this ad campaign ran, I personally found this type of advertisement refreshing amongst advertisements of skinny models, high heels, and naked people selling perfume. They are print advertisements featuring only images of only certain body parts, with a woman’s claims about them, their flaws, and why they are still beautiful. The female voices of the ads all have a tone of rebellion and confidence within them, similar to the Reebok ad showed as an example in “Practices of Looking.”

One is a picture of a woman’s quite large butt, with only tiny nude shorts on. The background is white, and the text is shaped the same way that the woman’s body is, emphasizing her bottom even more. The text next to the image claims: “MY BUTT is big and round like the letter C. And ten thousand lunges have made it rounder, but not smaller. And that’s just fine. It’s a space heater, for the side of my bed, it’s my ambassador to those who walk behind me, it’s a border collie that herd skinny women away from the best deals at clothing sales. My butt is big and that’s just fine. And those who might scorn it are invited to kiss it.” Another is a picture of a woman’s cut up knees reads, “MY KNEES are tomboys. They get bruised and cut every time I play soccer. I’m proud of them and wear my dresses short. My mother worries I will never marry with knees like that. But I know that there’s someone out there who will say to me: I love you and I love your knees. I want the four of us to grow old together.” One more: “I Have THUNDER THIGHS. And that’s a compliment because they are strong and toned and muscular. And though they are unwelcome in the petite section, they are cheered on in marathons. Fifty years from now I’ll bounce a grandchild on my thunder thighs, and then ill go out for a run.”

This is Nike’s way as a company to say to women, “We understand that you are not a model, not a size two, not a groupie of the beauty industry, but you are still beautiful, powerful, and we support you.” The ads express a sense of strength of everyday women, and because of their directness and underlying humor, they are able to change the typical spectator’s gaze and set themselves apart in the clutter of the advertising world, where spectators have often become cynical and disbelieving of advertisements. An actual product is absent from the ad, but can be inferred because of the spectator’s previous knowledge of Nike, and the typical gaze of women is challenged through these advertisements. These ads essentially successfully sell the attitude of Nike, one that the woman can adopt and alter for use in her personal life as a type of “commodity feminism.”

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