Core Post 4 - Charlotte

A through line across all three readings is the emphasis on the construction of postfeminism as a commercial/capitalistic process. Banet-Weiser discusses the function of including diverse representations in commercial media as a means to increase profit. As such, gender and racial identities are presented "as a kind of product one can buy or try on" (Banet-Weiser). This necessitates an emphasis on individual empowerment rather than a focus on justice or liberation, as (at least in my view) intersectional feminism exists in direct opposition to capitalism. As such, including intersectional rhetoric in commercial settings could hinder profits. Rather than push against social movements these social movements, however, commercial entities have co-opted the basic logic of movements (gender equality is good, racism is bad, etc.) and used these almost universally agreeable statements as a means to simultaneously de-tooth feminism or anti-racism of anything revolutionary while using the remaining essence to their corporate advantage. 

I get the same five ads on Hulu, one of which is for the Indeed, an online job search service. The ad depicts women in four workplaces: one chef, one working in a more 'conventional' office, one in what is clearly a start-up style office, and one working in leadership in a hotel. All of them excitedly engage with their work, smiling as they supervise lower level employees and answer phones. The only white woman is the chef (which leads me to think that the ad is hyper-conscious of depicting people of color in only blue collar positions, a representation likely to be called out in a Buzzfeed article or on Twitter). Text across the screen tells us that "when more women are in the workforce, our economy grows." Other text discusses the increased profit and happiness associated with an increased amount of women in the workforce. Then, the same workspaces are shown without the women, as we are informed that women lost 5.3 million jobs last year. This ad represents labor as something pleasurable and positive, with increased profits represented as inherently positive. The ad is not about the consequences of job loss amongst women, and the potential financial and emotional burdens of unemployment. By framing labor as a space for female empowerment, and not around the exploitative realities of capitalist labor, the ad asserts the postfeminist logic central to the theories of postfeminism.   

Indeed ad link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jhzfIDfGm4