Caster Semenya as a “can-do” hero for “at-risk” girls: analyzing Nike’s neoliberal postfeminist advertisements

Abstract

ABSTRACT To solidify itself as a socially progressive global brand, the U.S.-based sports apparel corporation Nike produces and distributes advertisements featuring women from around the world as empowered, independently motivated athletes, capable of transcending all boundaries through their pursuit of athletic excellence. Some advertisements feature celebrity non-Western athletes such as South African track and field star Caster Semenya as part of an overall marketing message founded on the purportedly universal ideal of “girl power.” This article argues that Nike’s global pro-women advertising can be understood as a Western-centric, neoliberal, postfeminist branding strategy that reinforces existing social inequalities and reproduces the economic exploitation endemic to contemporary capitalism. The article analyzes three of Nike’s advertisements from 2018 featuring Caster Semenya, focusing on how each universalize and normalize particularly Western, neoliberal, postfeminist ideals. Attention is given to the advertisements’ reliance on the specific neoliberal postfeminist themes of individual empowerment and Western-centered gender norms.