Women and Commodity Fetishism
In advertising, we have seen another trend that started to emerge. We see brands aligning their
products with pro-social and feminist messaging. The well-executed Doves ‘Real Beauty’ campaign
is one of the examples of commodity feminism. The term was coined in the 80s and explains how
feminist ideas and signifiers are used in commercial purposes, emptied of their political significance
and used as an asset. By using feminist messaging and cliches ads, marketers are telling consumers
that by buying a product, they, too, can be a feminist. Commodity feminism is just a strategy to
conceal exploitative capitalist agenda and divert the consumers from the horrendous reality of
workers in big companies through this ideology. This issue is just the tip of the iceberg. Issues on
women being used to carry out capitalist agenda is still prevalent from the past up until today. We
have yet to find a solution to solve gender issues and to emancipate women from patriarchy and
capitalism.
In the Philippine context, women are still struggling to find their way out of the abusive hands of
capitalism. We all have heard about the gruesome reality of Filipina domestic workers. News about
exploitation and abuse of Filipina domestic workers have circulated the media. The first-hand stories
of Filipina DHs made it clear that they are being seen as merely a physical body by their employers.
Domestic helpers are deemed as bodies without subjectivity, their employers treat them as an object
for their own pleasure. They were not hired because of their skills but for their gendered bodies,
which caters different functions for their employers which are also expected to be compliant and
subservient to their employers. In other words, they are considered as labor-commodities.
Commodity fetishism in domestic slavery can be seen through the convergence of gender and racial
systems of differentiation. This ‘differentiation’ refers to the objectification of the difference in
‘racial’ attributes that is assumed in the labor-commodity of domestic helpers. Filipina domestic
helpers do not possess their bodies as they are sold to others. This objectification of DHs
dispossession is seen through the acts of physical violence like sexual abuse, burning, and beating
inflicted on their bodies by their employers.
In advertising, we have seen another trend that started to emerge. We see brands aligning their
products with pro-social and feminist messaging. The well-executed Doves ‘Real Beauty’ campaign
is one of the examples of commodity feminism. The term was coined in the 80s and explains how
feminist ideas and signifiers are used in commercial purposes, emptied of their political significance
and used as an asset. By using feminist messaging and cliches ads, marketers are telling consumers
that by buying a product, they, too, can be a feminist. Commodity feminism is just a strategy to
conceal exploitative capitalist agenda and divert the consumers from the horrendous reality of
workers in big companies through this ideology. This issue is just the tip of the iceberg. Issues on
women being used to carry out capitalist agenda is still prevalent from the past up until today. We
have yet to find a solution to solve gender issues and to emancipate women from patriarchy and
capitalism.
In the Philippine context, women are still struggling to find their way out of the abusive hands of
capitalism. We all have heard about the gruesome reality of Filipina domestic workers. News about
exploitation and abuse of Filipina domestic workers have circulated the media. The first-hand stories
of Filipina DHs made it clear that they are being seen as merely a physical body by their employers.
Domestic helpers are deemed as bodies without subjectivity, their employers treat them as an object
for their own pleasure. They were not hired because of their skills but for their gendered bodies,
which caters different functions for their employers which are also expected to be compliant and
subservient to their employers. In other words, they are considered as labor-commodities.
Commodity fetishism in domestic slavery can be seen through the convergence of gender and racial
systems of differentiation. This ‘differentiation’ refers to the objectification of the difference in
‘racial’ attributes that is assumed in the labor-commodity of domestic helpers. Filipina domestic
helpers do not possess their bodies as they are sold to others. This objectification of DHs
dispossession is seen through the acts of physical violence like sexual abuse, burning, and beating
inflicted on their bodies by their employers.
