What do consumers say? : Exploring Consumers' Opinion on Femvertising in Fashion

Abstract: Fashion advertising has long been repudiated for fostering narrow and stereotypical imagery of women. Today consumers demand advertisements to be inclusive and real in their portrayals. As a result, there is an increasingly visible marketing phenomenon, called Femvertising, which merges the feministic ideology of empowerment and liberty with brand image and sales. The purpose of the study is to explore consumers’ opinions about femvertising by fashion brands. Within this, the thesis seeks to explore how consumers feel about these advertisements and the outcome they perceive these to have. Through snowballed sampling focused on reaching diverse people connected via social media, a wide array of thoughts and perspectives on femvertising is sought to fulfill the purpose. The research employs a mixed method with a deductive approach to analyze its findings in relation to literatures and theories reviewed. The study used an open-ended online questionnaire designed through literature review and advertising theories and distributed it electronically to collect data. Using snowball sampling, the respondents were gathered via social media, who further distributed the questionnaire. The findings demonstrated that our sampling mainly expressed positive responses to the femvertising due to its inclusive, diverse and empowering portrayals. Moreover, these advertisements were viewed as a harbinger of change within the fashion industry. They also, generally view the media and advertising to shape people’s perception about gender roles, albeit if femvertising and its ideals are implemented for the long-term. Within this, respondents also urged brands to ‘walk the talk’ and implement the portrayed ideals within their own businesses’ functioning for larger impact. The findings are useful for fashion marketers and researchers, by showing how femvertising within popular media culture is expected to push forward ideals of feminism both within the fashion industry and society. This thesis contributes to the knowledge of consumers’ opinions and perspectives on femvertising and its potential to profit brands and engender more empowerment and liberty to female gender-based roles.