April 20, 2015 - Written by: Yazmin Joy

All Advertisers Are Going To Sell Us Shit, It’s How They Do It That Matters.

Empowerment is trending. This shampoo is empowering my hair. Swishhhh. This sanitary towel is empowering my vagina – fuck you menstrual blood. You ain’t gonna hold me back!

But are we getting a bit lost on what empowerment actually is? My understanding of empowerment is that is facilitates/enables freedom and equality.

Which leads to the question: can advertising actually ‘empower’?

Advertising sells us something. That’s what it is designed to do. All campaigns have an agenda – THAT’S THE POINT. But do some campaigns take it too far?

I don’t know why but whenever I see that Cobra beer campaign on the tube, you know, the one with the man and the bra – I feel angry. Don’t ask me why. I just do. I don’t even fully understand the campaign. I don’t really get why the man in the advert is being compared to a bra. Or is it the beer being compared to a bra? Does the man wear the bra? Something about masculinity and dominance… pisses me off.

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Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett, recently wrote about Protein World’s delightful new campaign in the Guardian.

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‘They want you to look at the picture of a woman in a bikini and feel bad about yourself, then go online and indulge in their ‘weight loss collection’ of powders and capsules.’

I agree with Rhiannon. Cheap shot Protein World. Cheap fucking shot.

It’s also lazy. It’s so easy to revert to guilt tactics to sell a product.

My beef is with advertisers who tear you down, make you feel insufficient or lacking and THEN, when you feel like killing yourself – try and sell you shit. Or worse, tear someone else down.

The more successful campaigns, I believe tap into something a lot deeper.

They challenge, pose a question and most importantly they build up the worth of the consumer, rather than ruthlessly lambast them with paraphernalia that corner them into thinking that with this ‘essential’ product I will be an ‘empowered’ man or woman.

For the Always #LikeAGirl campaign, it wasn’t a product wrapped in advertising but more a reveal about the ethics and values of Always – the brand. Clever!

The message was infinitely bigger than the product, and on point, resonating on a much wider social context. It didn’t say: you are not good enough without Always. It didn’t scream: BUY ME bitches.

Instead, it got us talking about what it meant to be a girl, and concluded that WE ARE ENOUGH. Being a girl isn’t something to be ashamed of. With that, it didn’t need to push the product. The company had our attention.

The product itself probably won’t empower a person, but the message or idea behind it CAN.

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Dove’s Real Beauty campaign saw a 700% increase in sales after six ‘ordinary’ women took centre stage.

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Arwa Mahdawi, for the Guardian, responded:

‘…your Deep Moisture Nourishing Body Wash doesn’t really care about you or your self-esteem. And your cucumber and green tea deodorant doesn’t give a damn about nurturing your confidence. Ultimately the aim of campaigns like this is not for you to choose beautiful, it’s for you to choose Dove’.

We know that our Deep Moisture Nourishing Body Wash doesn’t ‘care’ about us Arwa. We’re not stupid. Most of us don’t buy deodorant to fix our deep internal insecurities. My moisturiser doesn’t boost my confidence. But it does make my skin feel smooth and hydrated.

There’s a saying by Michael Hyatt: ‘Good advertising will only make a bad product fall faster’. If the product itself is not good, we won’t buy it. Dove did push the boundaries of beauty in advertising by showing diversity. Like #LikeAGirl, the values of Dove got our attention.

Advertisements seep into our subconsciousness. They can impact our choices. And sometimes, if strong enough, can affect our self image. Arwa has a point that advertising will always be a money game.

But if we are going to be bombarded with advertisements I’d rather it be something that didn’t make me feel like shit. Plus, if it saves me time standing gormless and bemused in the beauty aisle, you won’t find me complaining.

These are just my musings… what do you think? Can advertising empower?

If you enjoyed this post, why not check out ‘Real Women Have Curves and other Dumb Ass Things People Say’?