TY - JOUR
AU - Duffy, Brooke, Erin
AB - Abstract Although some have cited user-generated marketing campaigns as evidence of the “newly empowered consumer,” others have emphasized their exploitative nature. This debate becomes increasingly complicated when brought into dialog with a feminist rhetoric of empowerment, such as that underpinning a recent Dove user-generated ad contest. This paper examines how issues of power, labor, and leisure were articulated among various contest participants through interviews, analysis, and observation. Emergent from the data are themes of creativity, authenticity, and empowerment that converge and diverge. It is precisely because of the polysemic nature of these themes that the contest was able to simultaneously endorse the product, exploit participant labor, and give consumers a sense of power as individuals, as women, and as creative professionals. L'autonomie par la caution? Le sens polysémique des publicités de Dove créées par les utilisatrices Brooke Erin Duffy Bien que les campagnes de marketing générées par l'utilisateur aient été citées comme preuves du «nouveau consommateur autonome», d'autres ont souligné leur nature exploitante. Ce débat se complique lorsqu'il est mis en dialogue avec une rhétorique féministe d'autonomisation, comme celle soutenant un récent concours de publicités créées par les consommatrices pour l'entreprise Dove. À travers des entretiens, des analyses et des observations, cet article étudie la façon dont les enjeux de pouvoir, de travail et de loisir s'articulaient pour divers participants au concours. La créativité, l'authenticité et l'autonomisation émergent des données comme étant des thèmes convergeants et divergeants. C'est précisément en raison de la nature polysémique de ces thèmes que le concours fut en mesure de tout à la fois appuyer le produit, exploiter le travail des participants et donner aux consommatrices un sentiment de pouvoir en tant que personnes, en tant que femmes et en tant que professionnelles créatrices. Empowerment durch Bestätigung? Polysemische Bedeutung in der nutzergenerierten Werbung von Dove Brooke Erin Duffy Im Kontext des digitalen Zeitalters der Massenkommunikation, löst sich die einstige Trennung zwischen Medienproduktion und Konsum anscheinend auf, und an dieser Stelle entsteht eine Kultur der Interaktivität. Konsumenten nehmen nicht nur mehr an der Produktion von Nachrichten und Unterhaltung teil, sie werden auch aktiv in kommerzielle Initiativen einbezogen. Auch wenn einige nutzergenerierte Marketing-Kampagnen als Beweis für den „empowerten Konsumenten“ anführen, betonen andere den ausbeuterischen Charakter dieses Produktionsprozesses. Diese Ausbeutungs-Empowerment-Debatte wird zudem durch die Verknüpfung mit der feministischen Rhetorik von Empowerment verkompliziert, welche durch den aktuellen nutzergenerierten Werbewettbewerb von Dove verdeutlicht wird. In diesem Artikel untersuche ich mittels Interviews, Diskursanalyse und teilnehmender Online-Beobachtung, wie Aspekte von Macht, Arbeit und Freizeit von verschiedenen Wettbewerbsteilnehmern artikuliert wurden – Dove-Geschäftsführer, Amateur-Werbeproduzenten und Online-Publikum. Aus den Daten ergeben sich Themen wie Kreativität, Authentizität und Empowerment, welche auf verschiedene Art und Weise zusammenhängen und divergieren. Genauer gesagt, lag es an der polysemischen Natur dieser Themen, dass es mit diesem Wettbewerb möglich war, zugleich das Produkt zu stützen, die Arbeit der Teilnehmer auszunutzen und den Konsumenten ein Gefühl von Macht als Individuen, Frauen und kreative Professionelle zu geben. ¿El Fortalecimiento del Poder a través del Aval? El Significado Polisémico de la Publicidad de Dove Generada por el Usuario Brooke Erin Duffy Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, 3620 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA Resumen Aunque algunos han citado las campañas de mercadotecnia generadas por el usuario como evidencia del “nuevo fortalecimiento del poder del consumidor,” otros han enfatizado su naturaleza explotadora. Este debate se hace más complicado cuando es traído dentro del diálogo de una retórica feminista de fortalecimiento del poder, tal que apuntala una competencia reciente de un aviso publicitario de Dove generado por el usuario. Este artículo examina cómo estos asuntos de poder, trabajo, y placer, fueron articulados entre varios participantes de la competencia a través de entrevistas, análisis, y observación. Emergiendo de los datos son temas de creatividad, autenticidad, y fortalecimiento del poder que converge y diverge. Es precisamente a raíz de la naturaleza polisémica de estos temas que la competencia fue capaz de avalar simultáneamente el producto, explotar el trabajo del participante, y dar a los consumidores un sentido de poder como individuos, como mujeres, y como profesionales creativos. I want to be a director, and this is the third project I’ve done…I'm hoping to use this for my demo reel, to send it out for film festivals. (Kelly, amateur producer) Corporate America should use the great experience of its consumers…I'm a little old lady—a grandma—who made a commercial. (Pam, amateur producer) Against the backdrop of a digital era of mass communication, the wall that once divided media production and consumption is ostensibly collapsing, and in its place rises a culture of interactivity. Not only are more consumers participating in the production of news and entertainment, they are also being strategically incorporated into marketing initiatives. An example of this incorporation is the recent trend in user-generated advertising, which encourages ordinary people to produce, edit, and star in commercials for corporate behemoths such as PepsiCo, Budweiser, and Unilever. In December 2007, Unilever launched the Dove Supreme Cream Oil Body Wash Ad Contest, a competition which challenged “real women” to create 30-second commercials for Dove's new line of body washes. Kelly and Pam were among the thousands who entered the contest in hopes of having their ad selected and premiered during the 2008 Academy Awards ceremony.1 Yet as their comments seem to suggest, they understood their respective roles in the contest in ways that problematize the production–consumption dialectic. At the heart of this dialectic are issues of power, labor, and leisure and, indeed, much of the contemporary discourse on user-generated content (UGC) situates it within a framework of either exploitation or empowerment. To some, the new media environment promises a reallocation of power between producers and consumers, the latter of which has been vociferously proclaimed the “newly empowered consumer” (Jenkins, 2006, p. 27). Others, taking a more critical stance, have emphasized the labor consumers perform as part of their integration into media production processes. To this end, consumer–participants have recently been conceptualized as free workers in a knowledge-based economy (Terranova, 2000); as value-enhancing laborers in a commercial media system (Andrejevic, 2008); and even as exploited consumers whose labor is expropriated under the logic of marketing (Zwick, Bonsu, & Darmody, 2008). These clashing perspectives about the power dynamics underpinning the UGC paradigm are encapsulated within the Dove Cream Oil Contest. At the same time that the contest offered explicit promises of “empower[ment]” and “creative control,” it required participants to provide productive labor with little chance for compensation. This seeming contradiction between empowerment and exploitation is complicated by the contest's feminist rhetoric, which ostensibly positions it at a point of tension between pleasure and power (see e.g., van Zoonen, 1994). In fact, the larger Dove Campaign for Real Beauty (DCRB), of which this contest was a part, features “real women” instead of models in their advertisements in an effort to liberate women from stereotypical portrayals of beauty. Although some have heralded the campaign's movement to advance a feminist agenda, others have critiqued it for conflating citizen-activism with consumerism (Johnston & Taylor; 2008; Love & Helmbrecht, 2007). In light of such nuanced conceptualizations of power, pleasure, empowerment, and exploitation, I argue that the Dove Body Wash Ad Contest opens up a unique space to explore some of the core debates about UGC and feminist marketing rhetoric. In this study, I examine how these issues are articulated among the various contest participants—the Dove executives, the amateur commercial producers, and the online audience—through interviews, discourse analysis, and observation of the contest website. What emerge from the data are themes of creativity, authenticity, and empowerment that converge and diverge in compelling ways—both within and across groups of participants. Background User-generated media and advertising content Traditional theorizations of mass communication have tended to construct a boundary between media producers and consumers, a trend which has been perpetuated by the paradigmatic division within the field. Whereas studies of media production typically emphasize the political–economic and organizational considerations that guide content creation, consumption-oriented research foregrounds message reception and interpretation among audience members (Deuze, 2007). In recent years, however, the production–consumption boundary has become increasingly porous, evidenced by the shift to two-way, interactive communication and the subsequent rise in consumer- or user-generated media content. This phenomenon has been explored through a variety of scholarly lenses, including the emergence of a participatory culture of convergence (e.g., Benkler, 2006; Bruns, 2007; Jenkins, 2006); the Internet as a site of audience feedback (e.g., Andrejevic, 2008; Brooker, 2001; Johnson, 2007); the changing role of consumer labor in the digital age (e.g., Shimpach, 2005; Terranova, 2000); and the significance of consumer participation to traditional media industries (e.g., Deuze, 2007; Knight, 2008). Another stream of academic literature, as well as myriad articles in the trade press, has addressed how the production–consumption boundary is blurring within the advertising and marketing industries (Deuze, 2007; Bishop, 2007; Jaffe, 2005; Zwick et al., 2008). Some of these writings focus on the increasing power of consumers, which Muñiz and Schau (2007) suggest signals “a change in the status quo with respect to the definition and practice of advertising” (p. 46). This perspective reflects a broader narrative about the democratic potential of new media technologies, which offer increased opportunities for creativity and collaborative control (Jenkins, 2006; Bruns, 2007). Other scholars, meanwhile, are skeptical about the political and social possibilities of UGC within media and marketing industries (e.g., Deuze, 2007; Keen, 2007; Zwick et al., 2008). Emphasizing the bottom-line economic impact of production–consumption convergence, Deuze (2007) argues that “consumer empowerment … goes hand in hand with the quest for profit” (p. 257). This suggests that, despite newly opened up spaces for consumer control, much power remains in the hands of the producers, who establish boundaries around such spaces. An even more critical perspective comes from Zwick et al., who contend that marketers are using consumers' desire for agency, creative license, and empowerment to “reconfigure marketing as a technology of consumer exploitation and control suitable for the complex machinations of global information capitalism” (p. 167). Underpinning this argument is an emergent body of literature on the labor consumers perform as part of their incorporation into the production processes. New conceptualizations of labor A confluence of political–economic, technological, and cultural factors has in recent years prompted cultural theorists to reconceptualize the nature of productive labor (e.g., Deuze, 2007; Gill & Pratt, 2008; Hardt & Negri, 2000; Lazzarato, 1996). One common thread running through these writings is the increasing economic importance of creative—or immaterial—labor, including “the kinds of activities involved in defining and fixing cultural and artistic standards, fashions, tastes, consumer norms and, more strategically, public opinion” (Lazzarato, 1996, p. 133). It is within this context that scholars have developed theories about the unique role of cultural workers in the global economy (e.g., Deuze, 2007; Gill & Pratt, 2008). As Deuze (2007) explains, such creative laborers seem to exist in spaces between economy and creativity, between flexibility and specialization, between the home and workplace, and between top-down and bottom-up systems of influence. Leadbeater and Miller (2004), meanwhile, focus on those participants with a somewhat different role in the production process, namely the “Pro-Am” professional/amateur hybrids. Describing them as “innovative, committed and networked amateurs … working to professional standards,” Leadbeater and Miller enable us to realize how individuals enhance their productive value at the same time that they participate in the leisure-consumption system (p. 9, 23). Indeed, scholars have been theorizing about the ways in which leisuring audiences provide productive labor for media industries for nearly 3 decades. Smythe (1981) and, later, Jhally and Livant (1986) argued that the television audience was a commodity that could be bought and sold to advertisers; consumers thus engage in what the latter called “the work of watching.” In the early 2000s, the explosive growth of the reality TV format and the proliferation of time- and space-shifting devices helped to revive academic interest in the issue of audience labor. Andrejevic (2002), for example, conceptualized reality TV as a form of productive surveillance whereby audiences participate in “the work of being watched.”Shimpach (2005), on the other hand, focused on how new technologies are facilitating audience work by allowing individuals to arrange their own programming schedules; program their digital video recorders; and interact more dynamically with content (p. 353). The profound transformations of the digital age have led to a reformulated model of audience labor. Not only is consumer work more pervasive in the Internet era but, as Terranova (2000) explains, it is “simultaneously voluntarily given and unwaged, enjoyed and exploited” (p. 33). Terranova's argument provides a context for studies about how producers strategically encourage consumers to engage in free labor. For example, critical researchers have argued that television producers cultivate audience participation on series' websites because it doubles as unpaid market research (Andrejevic, 2008; Johnson, 2007). The participants, then, might be understood as Bourdieuian “cultural intermediaries,” or critics who negotiate between production and consumption in the digital economy (for a critical discussion of this term, see Nixon & du Gay, 2002). Meanwhile, Zwick et al. (2008) seem to take the exploitative logic of 21st century audience labor a step further in their theorization of the cocreation paradigm of marketing, whereby producers “put consumers to work,” by discursively constructing consumer labor as consumer freedom. Although the emphasis of these writings is on the potential to exploit consumer-audiences, they do not overlook the fact that individuals can and do derive pleasure from their participation in the production process. This might point to the polysemic nature of interactivity, whereby meaning is structured into textual spaces that leave room for different subjective readings (Fiske, 1986). Indeed, the knowing involvement of individuals is what enables such UGC strategies to function. Yet as Andrejevic (2008) cautions: It is one thing to note that viewers derive pleasure and fulfillment from their online activities and quite another to suggest that pleasure is necessarily either empowering for viewers or destabilizing for entrenched forms of corporate control over popular culture. (p. 43) By denying the conflation of pleasure and empowerment, Andrejevic points to the limits of consumer participation. The boundary between pleasure and (em)power(ment) is, however, intricately more complicated within a feminist project like the Dove Contest. Female empowerment, activism, and advertising A central tension within feminist discourse is what van Zoonen (1994) has described as “the uneasy connection between the pleasures of popular culture and the political aims of feminism” (p. 7); however, the work of McRobbie (1999) and others has since helped to bring notions of power and pleasure into conversation. This discourse provides the backdrop for another strand of feminist scholarship, which critiques the ways in which gender politics have been exploited under the logic of consumerism (e.g., Gill, 2008; Johnston & Taylor, 2008; Lazar, 2006; Love & Helmbrecht, 2007). Love and Helmbrecht (2007), for example, recently discussed the growing number of corporations and marketers (including Unilever vis- à-vis the DCRB) employing a “rhetoric of [female] empowerment,” ostensibly for commercial gains. They write: In creating these spaces where consumerism and activism mingle awkwardly … Dove implicitly argues[s] that women's empowerment and advancement lie within an individual's buying power, not within a larger cultural cause or movement. In other words, gender politics have become conflated with consumerism. (p. 52) This polemic about the blurring of feminism and commercialism seems to map onto the empowerment–exploitation debate articulated earlier, and Pitcher's (2006) case study of the Girls Gone Wild (GGW) reality series brings this overlap into relief. Despite the seemingly exploitative nature of the series—women bare their bodies for a GGW shirt while producers profit tremendously—Pitcher argues that it insinuates female empowerment by giving women a choice to participate. She aligns this “staging an effect of agency” with the discursive production of postfeminism (personal choice) and neo-liberalism (individual responsibility) (p. 210). However, Pitcher's conclusion that “this mechanism of exploitation works so well that it functions as empowerment” suggests how the series' producers are able to simultaneously capitalize on the labor of female participants while enabling them to feel liberated vis- à-vis their consent to be filmed (p. 215). At the same time, this supposition points to the slippery notion of the term “empowerment,” particularly within a feminist context. Although messages of female empowerment have circulated throughout the public sphere with reference to the political progression of a social group (all women), Pitcher's (2006) argument illustrates how “empowerment” can also refer to personal progression. As Yoder and Kahn (1992) usefully point out, feminist power both exists and interacts at the individual, interpersonal, organizational, and societal levels. Love and Helmbrecht (2007), moreover, point to another “empowerment” problematic with their question, “What is the difference between an assumed image of empowerment and a ‘real’ image of empowerment?” (p. 42). This question seems just as relevant to participatory media initiatives as it does to postfeminist marketing appeals, both of which underlie the recent Dove UGC advertising contest. The Dove Supreme Cream Oil Body Wash contest Launched in 2004, the DCRB is a worldwide initiative that combines traditional advertising, internet marketing, and cause-related marketing in an ostensible effort to challenge stereotypes about female beauty. Despite the outwardly prosocial aims of the company, the role of market logic in the campaign cannot be overlooked. Describing it as a form of “feminist consumerism,”Johnston and Taylor (2008) argue that “one of the more insidious aspects of Dove's appropriation of feminist themes of empowerment and self-care is its reformulation of feminism as achieved principally through grooming and shopping” (p. 955). Despite this and other critiques of the campaign, it has earned Unilever tremendous publicity and profit. Among the DCRB's more recent endeavors is the Dove Supreme Cream Oil Body Wash Contest, a consumer-generated contest that encouraged women to create commercials that spoke to the theme of “real luxury.”2 The contest was promoted through MSN and directed potential participants to the contest website, where they could receive submission details from actress and Dove spokesperson Amy Brenneman. Not only did the contest draw more than a thousand submissions featuring women of various ages, races, and body types, but it also attracted several thousand women and men to the contest website, where they could both comment on and vote for ads.3 Presumably, these votes were used to narrow the entries down to five finalists, all of whom were invited to Los Angeles for a private Oscar party. Another judging process narrowed it down to two finalists, one of whom was selected by popular vote during the 2008 Academy Awards ceremony. The winning spot, “Speedy Spa,” premiered during a later commercial break, and the winner received prizes along with the all-expense paid trip. This contest seemingly provides a unique opportunity to examine empowerment and its paradoxes and tensions with labor, exploitation, consumerism, and authenticity. Among the specific questions raised by this contest are: What power dynamics are at play among producers and consumers? How is creativity conceptualized among the contest participants? How does this contest fit within the company's larger narrative about empowering “real women”? Method The qualitative methods employed during this study included in-depth, semi-structured interviews, discourse analysis, and online participant observation. This methodological combination enabled me to collect data on the various participants involved in the Dove Body Wash Ad Contest: the amateur producers, the marketing executives, and the online audience. Interview participants were solicited through a “call for interviews” posted on the video comment boards of the 100 most highly viewed commercial submissions.4 Over a period of 6 weeks, I was contacted by 13 female Dove video creators, all but one of whom agreed to speak with me about their experience with the contest. Most interviews took place over the phone and lasted between 15 and 75 minutes. The informants ranged in age from college students to grandmothers, and the content and quality of their commercial submissions varied extensively. About half of them had some form of education or experience in film or web design, although professional filmmakers were not eligible for the contest.5 Interview questions were open-ended and included those about participants' motivation to take part in the contest; their previous production/acting experience; their familiarity with and attitude toward the larger DCRB; the conception behind their ad; and the time, money, and resources that went into its production. Although I initially hoped to also interview the Dove marketing executives, I had little success in contacting them.6 I thus turned to press releases and trade press articles in an effort to provide a snapshot of the contest through the lens of marketers. Although this is by no means a perfect substitute, there is also no guarantee the marketers would have been more open had I gained direct access to them. The final component of my research involved gathering the perspectives of the online audience of the contest. The comment boards of the contest website proved to be a rich source of data; each video submission received between a handful and several hundred messages. My data were based on the most recent 50 comments for 10 highly ranked submissions (the five finalists from the first round of judging were all included). The messages were coded in order to identify what aspects of the submissions were praised/critiqued; the nature and extent to which the producers and/or actresses were discussed; and how these entries were perceived to fit within Dove's calls to creativity and “real women.” Findings Themes of creativity, authenticity, and empowerment emerged from the data and were conceptualized differently within and among various groups of participants. These polysemic readings (e.g., Ceccarelli, 1998; Fiske, 1986) enabled individuals to negotiate the power dynamics underpinning the contest and, in some cases, opened up space for subversion. Creativity For several years, [Dove has] been using an advertising format known as ‘real women testimonials.’ For the launch of the new Dove Supreme Cream Oil Body Washes, we wanted to give women control of the creative process and let them be a part of one of the biggest nights in entertainment. Kathy O’Brien, Dove marketing director (Frederick, 2008) As O’Brien's statement makes clear, publicity for the contest seemed to privilege the potential for creative authority, or what Andrejevic (2008) has called “the promise of shared control” (p. 34). This emphasis on creativity was reaffirmed by the contest rules, which stated that submissions would be judged on “originality and creativity of the content” and “adherence to the original creative assignment.” Some contest entrants seemed to unquestioningly accept Dove's “promise” and conveyed gratitude for the opportunity to creatively express themselves. One woman said she created an ad that allowed her to celebrate the “things real women do on a daily basis.” Pam, meanwhile, spoke more broadly of the valuable creative input of those who participated in the contest. “I saw so many creative ideas [on the contest website], the young people were fabulous.” She continued, “Corporate America should use the great experience of its consumers.” Such remarks reflect an understanding of creativity closely aligned to the one deployed by the Dove marketers. Although these responses suggest that, at least for some, creative expression was motivation for participating in the contest, about a third of the women I interviewed commented on how their creativity had been constrained by the contest requirements. Margie, an older woman with no production experience, described her initial desire to produce a commercial that was “not boring, not hum drum,” and would stick in people's minds. She explained how she planned to create an ad featuring a popular soul song from the 1960s but was disappointed to learn that the contest gave entrants few musical selections to choose from. Not only were selections limited (likely in part due to copyright restrictions), but submissions were required to include specified shots of the product with a closing image of the Dove logo and website. At least two video creators complained about how time-consuming it was to get the Dove product images properly edited into the commercials. What's more, submissions that did not meet the contest requirements were rejected, and two other women I spoke with had to recreate ads because their initial submissions were not accepted. It seems, then, that those individuals who sought to exert the most “control of the creative process” became well aware of the boundaries around creativity. One way participants responded to these restrictions was by redirecting Dove's agenda in order to advance their own aims—either personal or professional. Elizabeth, a Dove video creator with a background in feature film, said that she was motivated to “create a feel-good jingle” using a style that differed from many of Dove's other commercial spots. She explained that she wanted to reinforce positive thinking among women rather than the campaign's current approach, which she said “tended towards the negative” by portraying women as victims of beauty culture. Another interviewee created a commercial that opened and closed with an image of her performance group. Although she indicated that she was a fan of Dove, she also saw the publicity value of the contest, noting, “If [Dove] could help the band, we could help them. We could endorse the campaign.” Through this statement we can see how the participants were able to negotiate between the different levels of female power discussed by Yoder and Kahn (1992) and, in particular, empowerment at the interpersonal level (the band) and at the societal level (the campaign's assumed female audience). Considerations of creativity were also prominent on the contest website and enabled the online audience to benchmark submissions' quality and originality—or lack thereof. In fact, videos submitted on the contest website received extensive criticism if they seemed too imitative of other commercials, as the following example makes clear. One of the finalist's ads depicted a female runner being chased by another female runner through the woods; it is only at the end of the commercial that the audience discovers that the two women are roommates racing home to be the first to take a shower—with, of course, Dove Supreme Cream Oil Body Wash. Of the hundreds of comments posted about this submission, many of them criticized it for being too similar to a commercial for Kohler bathroom products. “This is pretty much a rip-off of the commercial for the shower heads, where the husband and wife race each other home to get into the shower first. Not very original,” remarked one poster. Others, meanwhile, felt that contest entrants should think outside the box. For example, one commenter noted, “Ugh, ‘me time,’ you couldn't get more unoriginal. Been there, done that … come on.” To these individuals, then, the notion of creativity helped to engage them in the online discussion through a different offer of shared control: judgment authority. As rhetorical strategies, these offers of artistic license and authority enabled Dove marketers to navigate around the problematic issue of consumer labor by equating participation with self-expression rather than productivity. However, some contest entrants indicated their reflexive awareness of this; they understood their creative output as a form of labor that they knowingly provided. For example, Ashley, a college student interested in film production, called Dove's approach an effective strategy because “they get near-professional commercials for almost no money.” She added that this also enables them to avoid fees for creative rights. Shawna, meanwhile, noted how the company benefits financially (not having to hire a team of creative writers) while also getting direct feedback from consumers. Despite the fact that Ashley and Shawna recognized the exploitive nature of the contest's call to creativity, they were willing participants who saw themselves as the ultimate beneficiaries of their productivity. Ashley, for example, said she believed her participation in the contest would prepare her for a film production class she was enrolled in while satisfying her creative drive and competitive nature. Rather than considering the contest a forum for political advancement or corporate exploitation, Ashley seemed to interpret it as a springboard for individualized, professional development. Taken together, the preceding examples suggest that although women were enticed by the possibilities for creative expression, they recognized the ways in which it was limited—both by Dove's creative agency and by existing conventions about commercial culture. Further, although some participants were aware that their creative labor was a form of exploitation in the Marxist sense, they were able to subvert the aims that were structured into the contest. Authenticity of the “real women” The average woman is not 5′9, 115 lbs. And yes, I would say that even if the runners-up had won because not one of the top 5 portrayed the ‘average’ woman! Comment posted on DoveCreamOil.com shortly after winner was selected From the launch of the contest in 2007, the marketers emphasized the significance of “real women,” which has of course been a hallmark of the larger DCRB. For example, a Dove marketing director stated in one of the press releases, “The Dove Supreme Cream Oil Body Wash Ad Contest is all about real women—the ads are created by and chosen by real women,” (emphasis added, Real Women, 2007). The contest rules, meanwhile, noted the importance of portraying women realistically within the ads: “Women appearing in your ad should look natural and self-assured” to convey the “Dove look and feel” (emphasis added). It seems, then, that the contest's call to authenticity opened up several spaces to understand the role of “real women,” including the realness of producers as nonprofessionals and the realness of the images they put forward. A number of the women whom I interviewed believed the contest succeeded in its aims to celebrate the women who created the video submissions. Lisa, for example, said she was drawn to the contest because it gave women with no professional commercial experience the opportunity to take part. At the same time, others considered the emphasis on women as producers a limitation of the contest. One amateur producer said that the contest's promise of female liberation was limited exclusively to participants. When asked who she thought the audience for the contest was, she responded, “The women who participate in the contest and their friends and family. That's IT! Nobody would log onto the commercial [website] unless they were motivated by the contest in some way.” Kelly, meanwhile, spoke more broadly about the ways in which the contest was exploiting a popular marketing tactic: In America, the public in general likes to watch amateurs and regular people participate. American Idol is an example of this; the audience cares about people trying to reach their dreams. It's a creative strategy to get publicity. Quotes like this suggest that many individuals saw through Dove's commitment to authenticity, recognizing it as a rhetorical device to promote the corporate image. Despite these nuanced conceptualizations of authenticity, many participants were able to synthesize these diverging perspectives by constructing the authentic women within the scope of their own experiences. Becky, an aspiring film artist who has received several local film production awards, said that she did not allow the actresses (her family members) to wear a lot of makeup and encouraged them to wear their usual clothes. “We are a real family,” she explained. Missy, meanwhile, noted how considerations of “real women” guided the conception of her submission. “I'm not a mom, but an aunt, and I know that women are busy working all the time. I wanted to express a day of a super mom … to provide a glimpse into what every woman's life is about.” Although this dialectical perspective enabled contest participants to negotiate between contested notions of authenticity, the results of the contest seemed to defy this synthesis. Indeed, more than half of the participants expressed disappointment with the winning ad because it failed to capture the “real women.” Many felt that the winner—young, white, tall, and thin—was not a representative of the average American female. As I learned from one woman, the opening press release statement that ads were “chosen by real women,” was indeed quite contradictory. Not only was the vote open to both males and females, but participants' votes played only a minor role (10%) in the judging portion of the contest. Perhaps not surprisingly, this information was downplayed in the campaign language, and I only learned about it after an informant directed me to a specific page on the contest website. This may help to explain why so many women were surprised with the final selection. Elizabeth was particularly frustrated with the winning ad: When I see who was chosen as the winner as well as the finalists, I realized that it was not a contest about the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty … it was a contest about fitting a target demographic—which seems to be women in their twenties, and selling a product versus an idea of real beauty… I was also surprised by the lack of racial diversity among the finalists…. It wasn't a very ‘PC’ move on their part and I think having one of the finalists be an entry that showed a variety of ethnicities (and there were several entries like that) would have easily solved that problem as well as supported the DCRB message. The criticisms waged by amateur producers were echoed on the contest website, especially in the first days after the winning selection was announced. As the comment at the beginning of this section indicates, online participants did not believe the winner captured the essence of “real women.” Many felt another finalist deserved to win but was not selected because the woman featured in the ad was much older than the others (likely in her late sixties). As one individual commented, “THIS IS THE WINNER!!! Once again, big business corporate morons who don't know a thing about real life (only what looks good on paper) blow it again.” An interesting contrast to those who critiqued the contest for being not real enough were those who ostensibly felt the women in the ads were too real. One particularly insidious comment read, “This girl's face looks awful. If this is what Dove Body Wash makes you look like, I would definitely have to pass. This is certainly not what people want to see.” Others critiqued the women in the ads for appearing too natural. “[She] needs some make-up … some color on her cheeks and gloss on her lips and eyelashes, a natural but finished [and] healthier look. She looks a bit sickly.” Although not everyone was so critical, these comments suggest how considerations of authenticity were highly contested among the online audience—making the topic of “real women” a jumping-off point for participant discussions and debates. Such a high level of engagement regarding the notion of authenticity brings to the fore the polysemic meaning of the term. Although the contest left the meaning of “real women” somewhat open, participants ultimately became aware of the contradiction in Dove's construction of authenticity. On the other hand, few individuals seemed to realize the perhaps more insidious contradiction—that Dove encourages women to become “real” through their participation in the commodity marketplace (i.e., purchasing a Dove brand product). Empowerment If I'm going to put the time, creativity, and money into this [contest], it better help me accomplish what I want to accomplish. (Kelly, amateur producer) The “rhetoric of empowerment” that is at the heart of the DCRB (Love and Helmbrecht, 2007), was both explicit and implicit in the Dove marketing discourse. In announcing the launch of the contest, Brenneman said, “I am excited to participate in a program empowering real women to showcase their talents” (Dove Real Women, 2007). Here, “empowering” seemed to have a double meaning: the celebration of all women as a feminist project; and the encouragement of [female] individuals to pursue their creative aspirations. Beyond this, it is likely that marketers hoped women would make the connection between participation and empowerment. As Kesby (2005) has suggested, participatory approaches elude traditional power relations and thus open up space for a “practical feminist politics” (p. 2037). It is important to note that a number of amateur producers pointed to a conceptualization of female empowerment that seemed closely aligned with Dove's definition. As Amy explained: I think it's a really great thing what they are doing … Every young girl has body issues. [Dove] is about beauty in the skin they’re in. We see so many beautiful models and celebrities who are spokespersons … Body images are so different than even 20 years ago. Now it's Botox and face lifts and lipo … Dove is doing a great thing. Amy also pointed out the ways in which the contest gave video creators such as her the opportunity to channel their energies toward a liberating feminist project. The contest, she said, enabled her to create something women could identify with and feel good about. Similarly, Lisa, one of the five contest finalists, saw the contest as a forum to communicate her message to other women. Having had the opportunity to give advice to other women through the finalist website, Lisa said she hoped “women can take my message to heart.” She added, “Dove gives you a voice and lets it be heard by many others.” Although such quotes indicate that at least a few of the participants took Dove's promise of empowerment literally, others seemed to understand the commercial aims of the contest's “rhetoric of empowerment.” One woman described this as “a smart way to promote it.” Ashley, whose comment about the free labor involved in this contest was included earlier, also remarked on how Dove got everyone to “buy $8 body wash,” an amount which more than made up for the money they paid to fly the finalists to Los Angeles. Such comments illustrate how some individuals were quite aware of the structural power underpinning Dove's open commitment to female empowerment. Yet they were willing participants in the contest because they were able to transform the definition of empowerment to meet their own needs. For some, this feeling of empowerment came from the opportunity to learn and utilize new technologies. Pam, a grandmother with no college education, explained that she was initially hesitant to participate because she was “embarrassed to ask for help.” However, after using the editing software provided by Dove, she was able to produce a modest commercial. “I'm a little old lady, a grandma, who made a commercial,” she said before noting how this element of the contest was “an incredibly powerful thing.” Missy, meanwhile, said her decision to participate in the contest was motivated by her New Year's resolution to follow through with her aspirations in the face of self-doubt. “People told me, ‘you can't do it [make a commercial] … You’re talking like it's so easy.’ But you can do it, I like Nike's slogan, ‘Just do it.’” Missy also believed the contest would “empower” her adolescent niece. “She's shy,” she explained, “but she could be in an ad, tell her friends she was in a commercial … I wanted my niece to know ‘you can do it!’” This reference to Nike is not incidental given the rhetoric of individualist empowerment communicated through the company's female-targeted advertising campaigns (Dworkin and Messner, 1999, p. 356). Other women informed me how they entered the contest for professional reasons and were thus able to feel empowered through a transmuted definition centered on their career goals. Kelly, an aspiring film director whose quote was included at the beginning of this section, explained that the Dove contest was the third UGC project she had done, and she planned to include her submission in her demo reel. Becky, meanwhile, described the contest as “a helpful experience in trying to build my portfolio” and something which would provide recognition through the Dove name. These statements suggest that, although participants knew they were working for the company, they were more importantly benefiting personally and professionally. Some even took advantage of the contest website, which ostensibly provided feedback to Dove market researchers, to get advice and commentary on their own productions. Perhaps the most explicit example of this came from Missy, who said, “I could care less about what Dove thinks of me, but what's so wonderful is the feedback.” It is perhaps not surprising that the online community provided much less critical reflection on the topic of empowerment. Although we might understand online commenters' involvement in the contest as liberating within the empowerment-through-participation framework that Kesby (2005) reviews, their comments seem to indicate that they felt a sense of control as authorities. In line with the contest's construction of participants as creative judges, many provided professional-sounding feedback including such comments as “very creative and well executed from a beautiful woman”; “from the model, the voice, and the perfectly matched music, it was very well constructed”; and “I love the timing and selection of the music and the professional voice over.” Despite the expert tone of these statements, it is likely that Dove marketers benefited much more from commentary which emphasized the consumption over the production of these ads. Examples of the former include, “It is about time an ad showed full-figure women my size enjoying luxury” and “I'm sick of the recurring ‘singing in the shower’ motif that's in so many of these commercials.” Yet it is important not to dismiss the pleasure of these individuals, who likely saw themselves as not merely audience members but, rather, as knowledgeable critics. Significantly, they seemed to enjoy their role as cultural intermediaries who negotiated between the amateur producers and the final contest audience, the Oscar viewers. Discussion and conclusion The findings of this study point to the nuanced ways in which participants conceptualized the themes of creativity, authenticity, and empowerment underpinning the Dove contest. The fact that some amateur producers and online participants took a perspective similar to that offered by the Dove marketers suggests that the contest did at times function hegemonically. For example, some enjoyed the sense of creative agency that was deployed under Dove's offer of “creative control”; some believed they were supporting a feminist agenda by celebrating the authentic, real woman; and some momentarily stepped into roles as producers and production assistants. That these individuals absorbed the dominant meaning of the text (at least, initially) illustrates the ways in which the rhetoric of the “newly empowered consumer” has circulated within marketing and mainstream discourse. At the end of the contest, however, many of these same individuals came to the stark realization that Dove ultimately retained authoritative control. Indeed, despite the executives' claim that “the ads are created by and chosen by real women” (Dove Real Women, 2007, emphasis added), it was up to the company to decide which women should be recognized. Although there is no way to tell whether or not the contest was intentionally misleading (the judging stipulations were included in the press release), participants nonetheless were disappointed with their limited power over the contest. What is more, Dove's decision to play a leading role in the contest judging runs counter to recent marketing advice that UGC corporate sponsors can increase “customer ownership of the creative process” by allowing participants to select the winner (Bishop, 2007). Perhaps it was this contradiction between Dove's idea of “real women” and the self-perceptions of the participants that led so many to criticize the final selection of the young, thin, white winner. Was this discrepancy indicative to women that only certain individuals could be empowered? If so, then appeals to authenticity were not driven by a commitment to participatory politics but, rather, to the logic of marketing. This dovetails with a comment made several years ago about the ostensible democratizing potential of reality TV: “The fifteen minutes of fame that is the principal reward for participating on the programs limits the selection of ‘real people’ to those who make good copy for newspaper and magazine articles …” (Murray & Ouellette, 2004, p. 8). This statement serves as an important reminder that one must not forget the political and economic forces guiding such seemingly participatory media texts. At the same time, and perhaps unanticipated by the marketers, the Dove contest opened up what Fiske (1986) has described as space for resistance and negotiation to the dominant meaning. Although some participants recognized the exploitative aims of the contest, they willingly accepted it as part of a larger cultural exchange of labor for advancement. Several of the women said they felt personally empowered through their involvement in the contest, and others gained invaluable professional experience. Among them were those who emerged from the contest with a tangible product and useful feedback to move forward with their production interests. To recall a statement made earlier, Kelly explained of her decision to participate in the contest, “I want to be a director and this is the third project I’ve done … I'm hoping to use this for my demo reel, to send it out for film festivals.” Kelly, then, seemed to subvert the consumer-activist rhetoric of the contest to ensure that she was the one to benefit most from her labor. Like the example of the performer hoping the contest would drive publicity to her band, Kelly's case suggests that the contest did leave room for women to feel a sense of power as individuals, as women, and as creative professionals. To this end, the fact that participants seemed aware of the different levels at which empowerment functioned (e.g., Yoder and Kahn's, 1992, categories of individual, interpersonal, societal) suggests that the traditional either empowerment or exploitation framework might not be the most productive one for this contest. If, instead, we understand the Dove contest as working within a more fluid conception of empowerment, we may be better prepared to address Love and Helmbrecht's question: “What is the difference between an assumed image of empowerment and a ‘real image’ of empowerment?” (p. 42). A useful starting point is to identify who gets to define what this “real image” is. Although the thousands of women who participated in the contest—as producers, online audiences, and even voters—were provided with a space within which to construct a definition, the loudest expression of the real came from the voice of Dove. This suggests, then, that a more productive way to frame the question is by asking for whom might this be “‘a real image’ of empowerment”? The answer seems to lie in the polysemic nature of this contest, which enabled all participants to transmute the definition of empowerment to meet their own needs—and with a similar institutional result. In a similar vein, the contest's call to the ambiguous notion of “real women” provided a forum for participants to debate the meaning of authenticity as they tried to negotiate this with their own sense of self, as an individual “real” woman. Of course, this ultimately served to further engage participants with the Dove brand, including those on the website who seemed to serve as cultural intermediaries. Yet even those individuals who neither created a commercial nor commented on the website may have felt at least some connection to the contest's deployment of interactivity. Like other successful UGC campaigns, consumer-audiences may have engaged with the brand simply by appreciating Dove's offer of shared control. This study, then, raises important questions about the meanings of creativity, authenticity, and empowerment, all of which become increasingly complicated when viewed through a feminist prism which conflates citizenship and consumption. Within this particular contest, I would argue that the lack of distinction between empowerment and exploitation—as well as between power and pleasure and between real and constructed—allowed the contest to “work.” Thus from the chief marketing professionals at Dove to the budding film producers to the one-time contest voter committed to Dove's ostensible mission, participants were able to conceptualize their respective roles in the contest in ways that mattered to them. And all of them endorsed the Dove product line while doing it. Notes 1 " All interview participants were given pseudonyms. The real names of marketing executives were used because this information was publicly listed in corporate press releases and/or trade articles. 2 " The Dove Supreme Cream Oil Body Wash Contest was Dove's second user-generated advertising contest. Unlike the 2007 contest, the 2008 contest included a live voting process during the 2008 Academy Awards ceremony. 3 " Although the contest stipulated that “real women” participate, there is no way of knowing how many of the commercials were actually shot and posted by men. In addition, some of the comments on the website were posted by individuals who identified themselves as “a guy” or someone's “father.” 4 " I submitted a post on the comment board of the top-ranked 100 video submissions. Over a period of roughly 6 weeks, I was contacted by 13 amateur producers, 12 of whom agreed to be interviewed. I have no way of knowing whether or not all 100 participants saw my message because of the large number of posts on top-ranked submissions. 5 " According to contest rules and regulations, the contest was “open to amateur filmmakers only, including film students; current or former professional filmmakers (defined as any person who has ever received more than 30% of their annual income from filmmaking) are not eligible.” 6 " I developed a list of potential informants based on trade press materials, but none responded to repeated phone calls or emails requesting interviews. References Andrejevic , M . ( 2002 ). The work of being watched: Interactive media and the exploitation of self-disclosure . Critical Studies in Media Communication , 19 ( 2 ), 230 – 248 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS WorldCat Andrejevic , M . ( 2008 ). Watching television without pity: The productivity of online fans . Television and New Media , 9 ( 1 ), 24 – 46 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS WorldCat Benkler , Y . ( 2006 ). The wealth of networks . New Haven, CT : Yale University Press . Google Scholar Google Preview OpenURL Placeholder Text WorldCat COPAC Bishop , C . ( 2007 ). Consumer-generated advertisements . Social Media Marketing Symposium , Northwestern University. http://www.mediamanagementcenter.org/social/whitepapers/BISHOP.pdf Brooker , W . ( 2001 ). Living on Dawson's Creek: Teen viewers, cultural convergence, and television overflow . International Journal of Cultural Studies , 4 ( 4 ), 456 – 472 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS WorldCat Bruns , A . ( 2007 , June). Produsage: Towards a broader framework for user-led content creation . Paper presented at Creativity & Cognition Conference , Washington, DC. Ceccarelli , L . ( 1998 ). Polysemy: Multiple meanings in rhetorical criticism . Quarterly Journal of Speech , 84 , 395 – 415 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS WorldCat Deuze , M . ( 2007 ). Convergence culture in the creative industries . International Journal of Cultural Studies , 10 ( 2 ), 243 – 263 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS WorldCat Reuters . [press release]. ( 2007 , December 6). Dove real women define luxury in 30-second ad . Retrieved on March 3, 2008, at http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS169436+06-Dec-2007+PRN20071206 Dworkin , S. L ., & Messner , M. A. ( 1999 ). Just do … what?: Sport, bodies, gender . In M. M. Ferree, J. Lorber & B.B. Hess (Eds.), Revisioning gender (pp. 341 – 361 ). Thousand Oaks, CA : Sage . Google Scholar Google Preview OpenURL Placeholder Text WorldCat COPAC Fiske , J . ( 1986 ). Television: Polysemy and popularity . Critical Studies in Mass Communication , 6 , 103 – 122 . OpenURL Placeholder Text WorldCat Frederick , K . ( 2008 , February 16). Tipton native's homemade ad a finalist in Dove contest. Altoona Mirror . Retrieved April 30, 2008, from http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/504715.html. Gill , R . ( 2008 ). Empowerment/Sexism: Figuring female sexual agency in contemporary advertising . Feminism & Psychology , 18 ( 1 ), 35 – 60 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS WorldCat Gill , R . & Pratt , A. ( 2008 ). In the social factory?: Immaterial labour, precariousness and cultural work . Theory, Culture & Society , 25 ( 7–8 ), 1 – 30 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS WorldCat Hardt , M . & Negri , A. ( 2000 ). Empire . Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press . Jaffe , J . ( 2005 , June 13). Consumer generated content. iMedia Connection . Retrieved April 2, 2008, from http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/6096.asp. Jenkins , H . ( 2006 ). Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide . New York : New York University Press . Google Scholar Google Preview OpenURL Placeholder Text WorldCat COPAC Jhally , S ., & Livant , B. ( 1986 ). Watching as working. The valorization of audience. Consciousness . Journal of Communication , 36 , 124 – 143 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS WorldCat Johnson , D . ( 2007 ). Inviting audiences in . New Review of Film and Television Studies , 5 ( 1 ), 61 – 80 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS WorldCat Johnston , J ., & Taylor , J. ( 2008 ). Feminist consumerism and fat activism: A comparative study of grassroots activism and the Dove real beauty campaign . Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society , 33 ( 4 ), 941 – 966 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS WorldCat Keen , A . ( 2007 ). The cult of the amateur: How today's internet is killing our culture . London : Nicholas Brealey Publishing . Google Scholar Google Preview OpenURL Placeholder Text WorldCat COPAC Kesby , M . ( 2005 , summer). Retheorizing empowerment-through-participation as a performance in space: Beyond tyranny to transformation . Signs , 30 ( 4 ), 2037 – 2065 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS WorldCat Knight , A . ( 2008 ). Journalism in the age of blogging . Journalism Studies , 9 ( 1 ), 117 – 124 . OpenURL Placeholder Text WorldCat Lazar , M . ( 2006 ). Discover the power of femininity: Analyzing global ‘power femininity’ in local advertising . Feminist Media Studies , 6 ( 4 ), 505 – 517 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS WorldCat Lazzarato , M . ( 1996 ). Immaterial labor . In P. Virno, & M. Hardt (Eds.), Radical thought in Italy : A potential politics (pp. 133 – 146 ). Minneapolis, MN : University of Minnesota Press . Google Scholar Google Preview OpenURL Placeholder Text WorldCat COPAC Leadbeater , C ., & Miller , P. ( 2004 ). The Pro-Am revolution: How enthusiasts are changing our economy and society . London : Demos . Google Scholar Google Preview OpenURL Placeholder Text WorldCat COPAC Love , M . & Helmbrecht , B. M. ( 2007 ). Teaching the conflicts: (Re)engaging students with feminism in a postfeminist world . Feminist Teacher , 18 ( 1 ), 41 – 58 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS WorldCat McRobbie , A . ( 1999 ). In the Culture Society . London : Routledge . Google Scholar Google Preview OpenURL Placeholder Text WorldCat COPAC Muñiz , A. M , & Schau , H. J. ( 2007 ). Vigilante marketing and consumer-created communications . Journal of Advertising , 36 ( 3 ), 187 – 202 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS WorldCat Murray , S . & Ouellette , L., eds. ( 2004 ). Reality TV: Remaking television culture . New York : New York University Press . Google Scholar Google Preview OpenURL Placeholder Text WorldCat COPAC Nixon S ., & Du Gay , P. ( 2002 ). Who needs cultural intermediaries? Cultural Studies , 16 ( 4 ), 495 – 500 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS WorldCat Pitcher , K . ( 2006 ). The staging of agency in Girls Gone Wild . Critical Studies in Media Communication , 23 ( 3 ), 200 – 218 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS WorldCat Shimpach , S . ( 2005 ). Working watching: The creative and cultural labor of the media audience . Social Semiotics , 15 ( 3 ), 343 – 360 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS WorldCat Smythe , D . ( 1981 ). Dependency road: Communications, capitalism, consciousness, and Canada . Norwood, NJ : Ablex . Google Scholar Google Preview OpenURL Placeholder Text WorldCat COPAC PR Newswires [press release]. (26 February, 2007 ). Real woman creates new Dove TV commercial . www.prnewswires.com. Terranova , T . ( 2000 ). Producing culture for the digital economy . Social Text , 63 ( 18 ), 33 – 58 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS WorldCat Van Zoonen , L . ( 1994 ). Feminist media studies . London : Sage . Google Scholar Google Preview OpenURL Placeholder Text WorldCat COPAC Yoder , J. D ., & Kahn , A. S. ( 1992 ). Toward a feminist understanding of women and power . Psychology of Women Quarterly , 16 , 381 – 388 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS WorldCat Zwick , D. , Bonsu , S. K., & Darmody , A. ( 2008 ). Putting consumers to work: ‘Co-creation’ and new marketing governmentality . Journal of Consumer Culture , 8 ( 2 ), 163 – 196 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS WorldCat © 2010 International Communication Association
TI - Empowerment Through Endorsement? Polysemic Meaning in Dove's User-Generated Advertising
JO - Communication Culture and Critique
DO - 10.1111/j.1753-9137.2009.01056.x
DA - 2010-03-01
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/oxford-university-press/empowerment-through-endorsement-polysemic-meaning-in-dove-s-user-lKOBKN0Lnh
SP - 26
VL - 3
IS - 1
DP - DeepDyve
ER -