EMPOWERMENT FOR SALE: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF NEOLIBERAL FEMINISM IN PANTENE PAKISTAN'S ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

Abstract

This paper will discuss how the language of agency and empowerment attached to neoliberal feminism employed by Pakistani brands (and specifically, the Pantene advertisement) in selling the product to consumers (that is, domestic products). The qualitative case study design involves the use of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) in the research to explore the presence of the agency, confidence, independence, and self-determination themes within visual, linguistic, and narrative techniques to address in the chosen television and digital ads. These campaigns are placed in the larger socio-cultural context of Pakistan in which women are still confronted with structural challenges, including limited mobility, discrimination at the workplace, and gendered surveillance. Although the advertisements of Pantene seem to defy traditional, domesticated imagery of women and uplift the spirit of endurance and aspirations, the results show that empowerment is, in many ways, re-positioned as an individual, sellable feature that can be attained by personal initiative and brand devotion. This discursive transformation can be seen as a symptom of the logic of neoliberal feminism, which accepts the unequal distribution of gender but disconnects it from a collective political fight and systemic analysis. It is emphasized in the study that there has been a long-standing conflict between the ideals of feminist representation and the profit motive, and it illustrates how feminist principles are being selectively exploited to benefit the business. This study can add to the critical discourse on the issue of femvertising, monetized feminism, and the moral limits of the feminist branding approach in modern media by considering a Global South setting.