Race, class, gender, ageism and hetero-normativity in western commercials: Old and new forms of feminist semiotic activism

The field of advertisement represents an important mirror for those who are willing to study our societies in an intersectional manner – considering gender race, class, age and sex as ‘interlocking categories of oppression’ (Hill Collins). A 10 years long intersectional empirical research on commercials (carried out with students through magazines, tv, and internet) show how publicities both embody and reinforce social stereotypes: in the effort to transform commodities into appealing objects, they tend to legitimize classist, ageist, racist and hetero/sexist behaviors.

The awareness of the normative role of commercials – based on the semiotic analysis and deconstruction - gave impulse to new forms of feminist cooperation among different types of groups: women’s associations, glbt collectives, anti-racist groups, scholar-activists in the academia, women lawyers and unionists, students and media activists – offering a fertile terrain for coalition building.

The diffusion of classist & racist images of sexually submissive women is interpreted as an indicator of the present power relations among genders:  young feminists collectives became particularly active in making ‘corrections’ or re-coding commercials in public spaces, perceived as despotic signifiers. They do not believe in asking the institutional intervention; they are also skeptical about cooperating with femmocrats in order to improve the situation. They believe in direct action - as a way to fight back and practice direct democracy - and in grassroots activism, in exerting a control on women’s body image. Since the 70s, the women’s movement had understood the body is a political issue and held public demonstrations, voicing their discomfort about the improper use of women’s body. The new wave of feminists today are targeting racist, degrading, sexualized, commercials  in creative and communicative ways. Visual examples about old and recent feminist actions will be shown and discussed.