Anna Posbergh, Samuel M. Clevenger, Caitlin E. Kane
{"title":"Caster Semenya as a “can-do” hero for “at-risk” girls: analyzing Nike’s neoliberal postfeminist advertisements","authors":"Anna Posbergh, Samuel M. Clevenger, Caitlin E. Kane","doi":"10.1080/15295036.2023.2228382","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT To solidify itself as a socially progressive global brand, the U.S.-based sports apparel corporation Nike produces and distributes advertisements featuring women from around the world as empowered, independently motivated athletes, capable of transcending all boundaries through their pursuit of athletic excellence. Some advertisements feature celebrity non-Western athletes such as South African track and field star Caster Semenya as part of an overall marketing message founded on the purportedly universal ideal of “girl power.” This article argues that Nike’s global pro-women advertising can be understood as a Western-centric, neoliberal, postfeminist branding strategy that reinforces existing social inequalities and reproduces the economic exploitation endemic to contemporary capitalism. The article analyzes three of Nike’s advertisements from 2018 featuring Caster Semenya, focusing on how each universalize and normalize particularly Western, neoliberal, postfeminist ideals. Attention is given to the advertisements’ reliance on the specific neoliberal postfeminist themes of individual empowerment and Western-centered gender norms.","PeriodicalId":47123,"journal":{"name":"Critical Studies in Media Communication","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1000,"publicationDate":"2023-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Critical Studies in Media Communication","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2023.2228382","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"COMMUNICATION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
ABSTRACT To solidify itself as a socially progressive global brand, the U.S.-based sports apparel corporation Nike produces and distributes advertisements featuring women from around the world as empowered, independently motivated athletes, capable of transcending all boundaries through their pursuit of athletic excellence. Some advertisements feature celebrity non-Western athletes such as South African track and field star Caster Semenya as part of an overall marketing message founded on the purportedly universal ideal of “girl power.” This article argues that Nike’s global pro-women advertising can be understood as a Western-centric, neoliberal, postfeminist branding strategy that reinforces existing social inequalities and reproduces the economic exploitation endemic to contemporary capitalism. The article analyzes three of Nike’s advertisements from 2018 featuring Caster Semenya, focusing on how each universalize and normalize particularly Western, neoliberal, postfeminist ideals. Attention is given to the advertisements’ reliance on the specific neoliberal postfeminist themes of individual empowerment and Western-centered gender norms.
期刊介绍:
Critical Studies in Media Communication (CSMC) is a peer-reviewed publication of the National Communication Association. CSMC publishes original scholarship in mediated and mass communication from a cultural studies and/or critical perspective. It particularly welcomes submissions that enrich debates among various critical traditions, methodological and analytical approaches, and theoretical standpoints. CSMC takes an inclusive view of media and welcomes scholarship on topics such as • media audiences • representations • institutions • digital technologies • social media • gaming • professional practices and ethics • production studies • media history • political economy. CSMC publishes scholarship about media audiences, representations, institutions, technologies, and professional practices. It includes work in history, political economy, critical philosophy, race and feminist theorizing, rhetorical and media criticism, and literary theory. It takes an inclusive view of media, including newspapers, magazines and other forms of print, cable, radio, television, film, and new media technologies such as the Internet.