Journals / INJOCMER International Journal of Communication and Media Research / 2026 / Cilt: 6 Sayı: 2

A STRUGGLE COVERED WITH FLOWERS: COMMODIFICATION, FEMVERTISING AND THE REGIME OF SYMBOLIC SUBSTITUTION IN INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY COMMUNICATION

Çiçekle Örtülen Mücadele: 8 Mart İletişiminde Metalaşma, Femvertising ve Sembolik İkame Rejimi

Pages
98–114
Publication Date
2026-09-30
DOI
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AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

The framework thus offers an analytical basis for examining the relationship between feminist visibility and measurable, continuous and auditable institutional equality practices.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:This article examines how the political meaning of International Women’s Day, grounded in labour, equality and collective struggle, is recoded within advertising, brand communication and consumer culture.
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Key Findings & Data:Research on March 8 advertising and femvertising in Türkiye is read together with scholarship on the culture industry, commodity feminism, postfeminism, neoliberal feminism, affective economies and brand activism, as well as institutional gender-equality reports.
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Conclusion & Impact:The framework thus offers an analytical basis for examining the relationship between feminist visibility and measurable, continuous and auditable institutional equality practices.
🔬Design:Review & Systematic Survey
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:8 mart · femvertising · metalaşmış feminizm

Abstract

This article examines how the political meaning of International Women’s Day, grounded in labour, equality and collective struggle, is recoded within advertising, brand communication and consumer culture. The study is designed as a critical integrative review and conceptual theory synthesis. Research on March 8 advertising and femvertising in Türkiye is read together with scholarship on the culture industry, commodity feminism, postfeminism, neoliberal feminism, affective economies and brand activism, as well as institutional gender-equality reports. The study does not generate new advertising, company, consumer or employee data; rather, it conceptually synthesises prior empirical findings and institutional evidence. The comparative reading yields four proposed analytical mechanisms of substitution: rights into appreciation, citizens into consumers, collective struggle into individual empowerment, and institutional responsibility into communicative visibility. These mechanisms are not presented as empirically verified findings, but as conceptual propositions that can be tested in future research by matching the communication of the same organisation with its pay, promotion, care, safety and representation practices. The article’s original contribution is to bring these relationships together under the concept of a “regime of symbolic substitution” and to propose a qualitative “March 8 Consistency Matrix” organised around five dimensions and a cross-cutting principle of participation. The framework thus offers an analytical basis for examining the relationship between feminist visibility and measurable, continuous and auditable institutional equality practices.

Özet

Bu çalışma, 8 Mart Dünya Kadınlar Günü’nün emek, eşitlik ve kolektif mücadeleye dayanan politik anlamının reklam, marka iletişimi ve tüketim kültürü içinde nasıl yeniden kodlandığını incelemektedir. Araştırma, eleştirel bütünleştirici derleme ve kavramsal teori sentezi olarak tasarlanmıştır. Türkiye’de 8 Mart reklamları ve femvertising üzerine yapılan çalışmalar; kültür endüstrisi, metalaşmış feminizm, postfeminizm, neoliberal feminizm, duygu ekonomisi ve marka aktivizmi literatürü ile kurumsal eşitlik raporları birlikte değerlendirilmiştir. Çalışma yeni reklam, şirket, tüketici ya da çalışan verisi üretmemekte; önceki ampirik bulgular ile kurumsal verileri kavramsal olarak sentezlemektedir. Karşılaştırmalı okuma sonucunda hakkın takdire, yurttaşın tüketiciye, kolektif mücadelenin bireysel güçlenmeye ve kurumsal sorumluluğun iletişimsel görünürlüğe çevrilmesi olmak üzere dört analitik ikame mekanizması önerilmektedir. Bu mekanizmalar ampirik olarak doğrulanmış sonuçlar değil, gelecekte aynı kurumun iletişim mesajları ile ücret, terfi, bakım, güvenlik ve temsil uygulamalarının birlikte inceleneceği araştırmalarda sınanabilecek kavramsal önermelerdir. Makalenin özgün katkısı, bu ilişkileri “sembolik ikame rejimi” kavramı altında birleştirmesi ve kurumsal 8 Mart iletişimini beş boyut ile yatay katılım ilkesi üzerinden değerlendiren nitel bir “8 Mart Tutarlılık Matrisi” önermesidir. Böylece çalışma, feminist görünürlük ile ölçülebilir ve denetlenebilir kurumsal eşitlik uygulamaları arasındaki ilişkinin sistematik biçimde incelenebileceği bir analitik çerçeve sunmaktadır

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Cite This Article

Batgi, G. (2026). A STRUGGLE COVERED WITH FLOWERS: COMMODIFICATION, FEMVERTISING AND THE REGIME OF SYMBOLIC SUBSTITUTION IN INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY COMMUNICATION. INJOCMER International Journal of Communication and Media Research, Cilt: 6 Sayı: 2, 98–114. https://ajindex.com/articles/1616228

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