The pink screen

a mass media analysis of the pink capitalism triumph

Abstract

This article analyses some of the contemporary feminist advertising and mass media campaigns that claim themselves promoters of feminism. In order to define this phenomenon, we have named this paper: The pink screen; This term arises from the analysis of the postmodernity concept developed by Jean Baudrillard in his book The Transparency of Evil. To exemplify how the pink screen works, we analysed some advertisement campaigns that were broadcasted along 2018 and 2019 in Latin America and Mexico, and that sought to visualized the “equality” between men and women. Under this criterion the selected campaigns were: “Juntas Imparables” (Together Unstoppable) by Nike, the feminist shirts sold by Inditex and H&M and, finally, to illustrate the Mexican context, the posters created by Vicky Form which took part of the campaign #PonteEnMisCalzones (PutonMyPanties). Our goal was to develop a visual analysis based on the categories proposed by feminist critical studies, boosting in this way, a debate based on the contents of diverse advertisment products and their affiliation with feminism, questioning in this way, their commitment towards the feminist cause. Using a methodology based on the feminist critical thinking paradigm, it was observed that the three campaigns omitted feminist interest, there was a lack of gender perspective and coherence with the feminist agenda and do not contriute to women’s life improvement. In the end, the three campaigns are part of what gender studies scholars have denominated: Pink Capitalism.