Patriarchal marketing and the symbolic annihilation of women

ABSTRACT

In this commentary, I introduce the concept of patriarchal marketing in examining the persistence of gender inequality in marketing and consumer culture. I define patriarchal marketing as marketing that operates in accordance with a male-dominated power structure, in turn dominating, oppressing and exploiting women. I name this as a problem that produces the symbolic annihilation of women. In turn, this has three effects: trivialisation of the complexities of women’s lives, omission of those outside of the hegemonic feminine ideal and condemnation of women’s corporeality. I propose that the adoption of a feminist standpoint can challenge the oppressive power structures of patriarchal marketing that symbolically annihilate women.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender
• marketing
• feminist theory
• patriarchy
• symbolic annihilation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.