Femvertising: A study of the idea that moved culture forward for women

Abstract

Femvertising/ female empowerment advertising is a solidarity movement lived out through social media. The present paper shall affirm that ‘femvertising’ is no longer a new expression but an absolutely struggling chapter in feminism’s fourth wave. In a male dominated society, the condition of inferiority of the female gender has been obviously reflected in the advertising sector too. The bridging of this gender gap, the gradual improvement of the condition of women at a societal level, has also been documented at the marketing and communicational level. In the light of the same the paper shall hope to identify that the practices of appropriating this feminism discourse is meant for profit gains.
The paper shall discuss that ‘femvertising’ apart from marketing the brand is a medium to promote the self-esteem, confidence and aspirations of the women. It is a communicational strategy to liberate a woman, to delimit a woman. In order to contextualize the ongoing argument, I shall bring to focus certain selected advertisements that attempt to shatter the perpetuated stereotypes about women. Furthermore, the paper shall question the extent to which the growing activism has boosted the fourth wave feminism into the technological age and how successfully it has been emphasising and including the questions of empowerment, freedom and equality.
The paper shall accommodate necessary implications about how ‘femvertising’ is struggling hard to combat the two forms of exclusion: firstly, the white feminism ignored the isolated struggle of the women of colour, secondly, feminism had an unacceptable and aggressive attitude towards the trans women. Therefore, keeping in mind the complexity of the topic and the controversy surrounding the subject, the paper shall examine and establish the needful.

DOI - https://doi.org/10.65525/SVUP.9788196793241.2025.171-181