In the period after the Second World War, advertising became the first productive force in promoting consumption. In the early days, the advertising audience was predominantly male.
There are three visual symbols in advertising that attracted the most attention: Beauty, Baby and Beast, of which Beauty was the most visible and interactive.
‘3B’ strategy from a famous American advertiser David Ogilvy
Since then, ‘women’ have been seen, consumed or appeased for more than half a century in the evolution of advertising. Advertisers then saw women as objects to be conquered or owned.
1950s men’s cigarette advert: blow on her and she’ll be on your way
Then over time, in recent years, female users have become the backbone of the global mobile internet tide. With this change, women have become the primary target audience for advertising. As the spending power of independent women increases, there are more and more feminist advertisements.
Fitness has long been a health trend sweeping the urban population. As a new growth driver in the sports market, women have become a strategic target group for sports brands. As a global sports brand leader, Nike announced its entry into the women’s sports market by launching its Nike Women strategy in New York in October 2014.
Nike women’s ads photos
July 2015 saw the opening of Nike 45 Grand in New York’s SOHO district, a luxury fitness studio available only to Nike’s female VIPs. Here, female guests can see all Nike products for women and receive exclusive workout advice from trainers and coaches.
photo of Nike 45 Grand in New York’s SOHO
International Women’s Day has become a great marketing opportunity. On 8 March 2020, International Women’s Day, Nike celebrates the women who drive sport with the campaign ‘One Day We Won’t Need This Day‘ – the hope that one day, every day, will be like the day we mark on our calendars. The one-minute spot is about the day when women worldwide will not need International Women’s Day to remind people of women’s equality and role in society. And to deliver its message of empowerment, the Swoosh highlighted the achievements of tennis icon Serena Williams, soccer star Megan Rapinoe and several others.
The brand’s products are naturally glorified by the psychological effect when the viewers of the advertisements recognize the culture transmitted by the brand. They can feel as if they have raised the flag that marks the independent woman the moment they buy the item after viewing the ad.
They say, “there are no modern poets because they all write copy for advertising agencies.”
The image of a successful female athlete in the ad is paired with an uplifting slogan that creates a strong sense of identification in the hearts of feminist advocates.
Nike women’s line will grow from $5 billion today to $7 billion by fiscal 2017 and will account for 20% of total revenue.
Nike CEO Mark Park
What you can trust is that targeting and selling to female users can be effective in increasing brand sales.
But the reality is that we cannot hold capital to a moral standard, the injustice to women comes from truth, and many problems can only be solved in fact. In sports events, many women are still not treated fairly because of their gender, and men are still the leading force in sports. A marketing advertisement for women, in addition to driving sales of branded women’s clothing, does it help the status of women in sports and society.
Although advertising has commercial properties, it reflects society’s attitudes toward women. It is certainly not enough to rely on advertising alone to change the status of women and reshape their image.
Through advertising, you can see the ideals of the country.
British writer Norman Douglas
It is helpful enough to show the power of women of all fields, colors and ages through these positive feminist advertisements.