FABRICATING FREEDOM: POSTFEMINISM, CONSUMERISM, AND FEMALE AGENCY IN PAKISTANI FASHION ADVERTISING

Abstract

This study, Fabricating Freedom: Postfeminism, Consumerism, and Female Agency in Pakistani Fashion Advertising, analyzes the utilization of feminist discourse within a consumerist context in contemporary Pakistani fashion advertising. The study examines a campaign by Generation, investigating how phrases like "meri marzi" and allusions to the nikahnama create narratives of female autonomy while being rooted in market-driven aesthetics. Utilizing an interdisciplinary framework that amalgamates postfeminist theory, feminist critical discourse analysis, consumer culture theory, and visual semiotics, the study conceptualizes advertising as a multimodal cultural text wherein meaning is generated through the interplay of language, imagery, and culturally inscribedsymbols. Postfeminist perspectives shape the analysis of empowerment as individualized and market-oriented, whereas feminist critical discourse analysis enables the exploration of how gendered power relations are entrenched and navigated through textual and linguistic selections.Consumer culture theory provides insight into how feminist ideals are appropriated and transformed into consumable meanings, and semiotic analysis enables the decoding of visual symbols such as bridal aesthetics, adornment, and marriage-related imagery. The findings indicate that the campaign reinterprets traditional markers of femininity to articulate a discourse of empowerment centered on choice and individuality. However, this representation simultaneously reflects postfeminist sensibilities that foreground personal agency while obscuring structural inequalities. By juxtaposing empowerment slogans with references to persistent gender constraints, the campaign produces a tension between lived realities and idealized freedom. The study argues that such representations both enhance the visibility of feminist concerns and commodify them, transforming resistance into a consumable aesthetic. It concludes that Pakistani fashion advertising operates as a critical cultural site where gender, power, and consumerism intersect, raising important questions about the limits of commercialized feminism in achieving meaningful social change.