I didn't get a self interested message from "be strong and shine".

Special K has a new "stop the fat talk" commercial that has a similar feel to Dove's. I like the idea, but it feels smarmy done by a company with a vested interest in the issue. Especially since Special K is a product marketed to women as "healthy" and to help people lose weight.

On the surface this ad has captured first world gender issues but in reality for third world countries such as the Philippines this Ad lacks diversity. Our country PH majority are marginalized women, they come from the informal sector which obviously are not featured here. Of course corporate strategy is very evident and again beauty is perceived and defined by the women theyve chosen on the video. Since proctor and gamble's market for pantene in the Philippines are more sachet buyers P&G should have included the real issues surrounding filipina or third world women, informal sectors, vendors, farmers, etc facing multiple burdens, juggling gender roles, gender violence, with Philippines being influenced by religion Roman catholics, patriarchy is a big factor in gender inequlities where itis used to control women and society.

"It resonates with a wider cultural trend in which feminist empowerment has been conflated with individual gain within a patriarchal system, not a collective effort to end patriarchy once and for all."
This is very true. However, I don't agree with your next statement.

"This is the lesson of Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In: the system’s all set up to fuck you over, she acknowledges, but then she whispers: I will try to help you get to the top anyway. No matter if you have to step all over lots of other women on the way. That’s not feminism, that’s self-interest. And it’s certainly not progressive change."

I'd like to know how the detractors of Lean In plan to change the system. You cannot change it by withdrawing from it. There is this view among third wavers that they are striking a blow against capitalism by giving up corporate careers and staying home to raise kids. Nothing could be farther from the truth. All they are doing is supporting capitalism with free instead of paid labor, i.e. producing human resources without pay. There is also this view that if you pay for childcare and housework, you are exploiting poor women (i.e. "step all over lots of other women on the way"). Again, not true as a general case. Paying for these services raises their value by bringing them from the unpaid domain to the paid domain. As demand for these services grows, their value will grow. Another misconception is that equality at the top doesn't matter in terms of equality at the bottom. However, if we don't have a critical mass of women as law makers and enforcers, as producers of ideas and technologies, those laws and ideas and technologies are going to be biased in favor of men. And those laws, ideas and technologies apply to all people, not just the ones at the top.
If women want to overthrow the patriarchy, they need to first recognize where they have leverage and then use that leverage to change the system. Women have very little leverage as lawmakers because they are vastly outnumbered in legislative bodies. They don't have leverage in the workplace because they are vastly outnumbered at the top. Women have leverage at home. They need to demand equality at home to get equality in the public world. And when men at the top need to spend equal time in the unpaid labor of childcare and housework, then they will accept changes to workplace policies and government policies, because then it affects them, not just women.

Yeah, but what is really a message of this commercial?

"As long as your hair is nice and shiny - which our product can help you with! - you don't need to worry about double standards and labels you face in your every day life! Because, you have shiny hair! And that's all it matters to a woman!"

This advert is not 'clever' or 'empowering' or calling out our society. It's simply playing the 'strong woman' card and trying to sell the product as a poor compensation for all the problems women face every day at workplace.

I've seen this ad posted everywhere, and touted as some great, positive message. I don't share their enthusiasm. While I think it's great that the issue is even being acknowledged in popular media at all, I dislike the final message it leaves us with.

The ad closes by saying, "Don't let labels hold you back" as if women
have any control over the attitudes
and bigotry of others. In a corporate environment, or even in the world
at large, in most cases it's not women holding themselves back, it's
bosses and policy makers holding them back.

Like many issues relating to women, the focus is on her to avoid being
held back (or raped, sexually assaulted, harassed, beaten) instead of
focusing on changing the attitudes and behaviour of those actually
responsible for the action.

"Be strong and shine" is a meaningless platitude, especially in the face of such a behemoth as systemic institutional sexism.

mad at them for using that song.

It's so contradictory too: "here is a bunch o stuff that puts a spanner in the works for achieving your goals and damages your mental health - now cheer up and be successful!"

"solution to patriarchy"? why would you want a solution to something that is the foundation for all human civilization. so stupid.

Advertising has little effect on changing cultural attitudes. It sometimes reflects them in order to sell products. Way too much emphasis is placed on ads supposedly "affirming" some status quo. Marketers have no interest in that; they want to appeal to the average set of interests/beliefs...to sell something.

Aww! That's so cool. Idc if it's from a Pantene commercial and the commercial says shine. It's cool. It's got a cool message. What if the person who made the ad was an artist who got stuck making ads to have more money. (When you have more money you have more time you have more time to read and learn). And they decided well if I'm going to sell my soul making ads then might as well make them with nice messages. And This Is The Nice Message!!!! I like it.

And it's cool too because your inner beauty(?) your inner self your inner personality your specialness shines out of you and into the world. You're not bossy. You're not a show off. You're not pushy. You're you! You're persuasive and determined and smooth and a mutherfucking boss!. lol...

I also like the music too. All the boys love this song because it's from Donnie Darko and it was in a video game ad. It sold the video game. Now a lady is singing it and it speaks to us women. I like it.