This document analyzes two advertising campaigns by Pantene - "Labels Against Women" from 2013 and "Sorry, Not Sorry" from 2014. It examines whether the campaigns were influenced more by capitalism or feminism. The "Labels" ad showed gender double standards in the workplace. The "Sorry, Not Sorry" ad depicted women apologizing excessively. While the ads incorporated feminist themes of deconstructing gender biases, their ultimate goal was to sell Pantene products. Therefore, the document concludes the campaigns were more influenced by capitalism, using current feminist trends creatively to promote a beauty brand.

1. Fem-vertising: Were Pantene
#ShineStrong Advertising
Campaigns Influenced by
Capitalism or Feminism?
Danianese Woods
University of Southern Mississippi

2. Medium is the Message
• Television reaches a large number of
viewers and the successful transmission of
the message is dependent on the way
viewers encode the message.
• It is okay for the message to have different
meanings and signs but there has to be
one dominant factor for all viewers to
understand or else the message becomes
misunderstood.

3. Three Meanings
• The preferred meaning is the message
that media producers intended for and
accepted by the audience.
• The negotiated meaning is how the
audience partly agrees with the message.
• The oppositional meaning is that the
audience has interpreted the intended
message but rejects and disagrees with it,
(Hall, 1980).

4. Pantene Analysis
• Semiotic and ideological critique of two
Pantene commercials by analyzing the
denotative and connotative meanings
• The ideologies of femininity and feminism
were used in the analysis of the Pantene
ads
• Examination of how the brand was able to
promote civic issues of feminism while
generating a profit

5. Labels Against Women Ad
• In November 2013, Pantene launched a
commercial in the Philippines that shed light on
the concept of double standards of gender in the
workplace.
• The 60-second commercial portrayed men and
women performing similar actions but were
labeled differently.
• It opened up of the discussion about gender bias
especially with the use of a hash tag to direct the
conversation to social media.
• Labels Video

6. Labels Against Women Ad
• The preferred reading
of the commercial
shows how similar
actions can have two
different meanings if
the audience is told to
view it that way.
• The men have positive
words and the women
have negative words
associated with them
• Non-verbal actions
change meaning
depending on gender
Boss Bossy
Dedicated Selfish

7. Sorry, Not Sorry Ad:
Why are women always apologizing?
• In June 2014, the company released another
commercial that depicted several situations in
which women were apologizing as if it were a
second nature response.
• It points to the bias of how women have to be
apologetic and submissive to men.
• The second half of the ad is edited without
the apology to show the differences.
• Apologetic “space filler”

8. Sorry, Not Sorry Ad
• Depicts various
ways that women
interrupt or get
interrupted
• Women give power
to other people and
become passive
• When edited without
the apology, the
women do not seem
warm and soft,
politeness changes
to rudeness

9. Capitalism or Feminism?
• The Pantene commercials incorporate feminist
elements because the ads deconstruct
established systems of knowledge by showing
their masculine bias and the gender politics
framing and informing them
• Advertisers change the mindset of what is
feminine and establish positive associations with
feminine terms.
• Most consumers of the brand are women, so the
ads are appealing to women that identify with
feminism or female empowerment.

10. #ShineStrong
• But was it the advertisers’ intention to
advocate for gender equality in the workplace
and home or just a tactic to sell the shampoo?
• Pantene is selling shampoo, although the
product is never seen.
• Will a bottle of shampoo give women the
confidence and strength they need to face
adversity?
• Overall, it’s a creative tactic to utilize the
current trends of feminism to sell a beauty
product.