Can advertising and feminism ever get along?
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First off, Alex is a friend of mine, and I’ve already taken my hat off to her feminist efforts.
So can advertising and feminism ever get along?
Unless I’ve missed the point, Alex argues that by compromising her feminist principles in some situations she is placed in a more advantageous position to make greater strides elsewhere. Fair enough. An unemployed Alex, or one who works in a less persuasive industry, might do little or nothing for the advancement of feminism. We’ll never know for sure, but I can see how that might make sense, after all we have some evidence to back up her claim.
So do the ends justify the means?
Only you can decide…
I was a female copywriter in the 60s/70s/80s. It strikes me that there were a lot more women in the business then. Is the lack of women in advertising today (feminist or not) simply because women are SUCH feminists that they don’t want to contribute to, or perpetuate, the same tired old clichés of ‘the old days’ (cf the two cunts in a kitchen school of advertising)? I think not. With some honourable exceptions, magazines are still pushing diets, ‘how to please your man’ and ‘how to suck the fat/wrinkles/ cellulite from your imperfect body’ articles and the inside life of B-list celebrities at women. Where is the equivalent of Spare Rib? From my ancient perspective, ‘feminism’ these days is a catchword that makes people (men as feminists? Really?) think they actually care about women’s place in the world. Want to be a feminist? Fight against FGM, the refusal to educate women, the tyranny of being a size zero, girls’ and boys’ toys being marketed separately…. While the advertising business and clients are mostly men, fighting from the inside is a waste of time.