Taylor Swift, Barbie, Beyoncé leading 'certain brand of feminism'
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2023 has seen a cultural shift with icons the likes of Taylor Swift, Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie, and Beyoncé inspiring female empowerment in modern media and a renewed sense of urgency for consumer spending. Marcus Collins, University of Michigan Ross School of Business Marketing Professor, sits down with Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the sociopolitical themes being represented in these media milestones.
"The most powerful thing of all this is people aren't consuming because of what these things are, they're consuming because of who they are," Collins explains. "Because of their cultural subscription, how they see the world, and it's being manifested or made material through their consumption."
For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.
This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.
Video Transcript
- But even as we think about the economic impact that Taylor Swift, that Beyonce, that Barbie have had over the course of this summer.
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It has been the summer of women powering the economy through some of the marketing, through some of the events.
And now for a person like Taylor, who knows herself, who knows her audience as well, how powerful all of this could be going into-- I'll be the person to say it, going into a 2024 general election?
How powerful do many of these themes also transpire into next year?
Marcus Collins: Yeah, I mean, we see a common theme between Beyonce, Taylor, and Barbie.
It's not just because they were women led, but because they are representing a brand of feminism, an ideology, a point of view about the world.
And if we look at current politics, there's a lot of attack on women, on women's personhood, on women's autonomy, on their agency.
and the hope, the ideal scenario is that these outlets these vehicles become cultural vessels by which people can engage in conversation in such a way that is reflected in how they vote.
I mean, I think most powerful thing of all of this is that, people aren't consuming because of what these things are, they're consuming because of who they are, because their cultural subscription, how they see the world, and it's being manifested or made material through their consumption.
And the hope as we enter into a political season, that we'll see those things manifest in the way in which people show up to the ballot box, the way people advocate for certain policies, and the way people show up in communities to guide a certain agenda forward.