Cleaning Up Your (Feminist) Act

Being a media marketer and being apart of the public relations world means you have to heavily revovle your work around social media. It is one the the fastest ways to promote your business, so you need to know what you're doing. In this blog post, I decided to talk about famous social media influencers who use media to market their ideas, business and brands they sponsor. This is important due the fact that knowing and catering to an audience can be extremely successful, but can also raise questions about how you are helping society as a whole. In this case, feminism and "cleanfluencers."

The word "feminist" has become more and more prominent in daily life. People are making huge steps towards gender equality. Social media and influencing can be crucial when advocating what you're passionate about; campaigns such as "Girl Up", "Gurls Talk" and "NGO Safe Space" provide online platforms for women across the globe to feel safe and get their voices heard. As the stereotype of the toxicity of an influencer still stands, there is clearly still a long way to go in terms of how people define feminists, and the 'right' way in which a feminist should be. On my blog today I want to talk about female social influencer's, discussing whether their online platforms are adding to the problem of gender inequality, or the solution. I also want to find out if their impact as social influencer's are positive or negative. Women such as Mrs. Hinch and Marie Kondo spring to mind.

Sophie Hinchcliffe, AKA Mrs. Hinch, has become a social media influencer, "cleanfluencing" the people of Britain. She uploads routines for different parts of the house, tips and facts about products and where to find the best and cheapest ones. She advocates taking pride in your home and cleaning habits. She has become a household name and you can spot her almost anywhere, promoting brands such as B&M, Home Bargains and of course, Zoflora. It's safe to say "Hinchers" feels a sense of belonging when someone mentions Scrub Daddy. Her Instagram enabled her to express her love for cleaning. More and more people, predominantly women, revelled in the satisfying cleaning rituals she uploaded. However, could the outdated idea that women stay at home, cook and clean their houses for their husbands be routed in Mrs. Hinch's profession?

Similarly Marie Kondo, influences people to take cleaning seriously in their daily lives. Kondo has a series on Netflix, Tidying up with Marie Kondo, where she visits people who are in desperate need of cleaning up their homes. She enforces her own take on traditional Japanese cleaning methods, which is calledThe Kon Mari Method:

"The KonMari Method ™ is a system and philosophy for tidying your home and leading a life that sparks joy."

What I've found

Hinchcliffe has built her business on social media, racking up over 2 Million followers on Instagram. Also, she has published her own novel Hinch Yourself Happy, giving tips and ideas for fellow cleaning-lovers. She openly talks about her struggle with mental health issues such as anxiety and utilises cleaning as a gateway to overcome her anxiety, explaining how it has become a coping mechanism for her struggles. She encourages millions of women to exert their creative minds and make something positive for themselves. She retaliates positively and confidently against trolls on the internet by addressing situations on her social media, ironically putting an old lady filter on her face to show to the people that she doesn't care what they say, she will do what she loves regardless. She has turned her love for cleaning into a best-selling profession, through the power of social media and media marketing.

Similarly, Marie Kondo has helped millions with her vast amount of wisdom and reasoning for cleaning in a certain way. She too has published best seller novels such as Spark Joy and The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese art of decluttering and organising. She refers to cleaning as a ritual in order to create a zen atmosphere in the home, proven to help people out of depressive and uncontrollable states within their homes. She now has a net worth of $8 million.

These women, amongst thousands of other like-minded women have spun the system of domestic patriarchy on its head. They have converted the traditional ideology that women must stay at home to cook and clean and made it a positive, profitable business for themselves. I couldn't have put it any better than how Scarlett Curtis curated in the introduction of Feminists Don't Wear Pink and Other Lies:

"the assumptions I had held about what it meant to be a feminist were in fact a tool of the very systems of hate that these women were trying to smash... the lies we have been told about feminism have been fed to us to hold us back from a movement that is actually for everyone."

Women are versatile human beings. We are complex and strong. Most importantly, we are all unique and different. When people try and define what a feminist is, they are automatically against the feminist movement itself. No woman can advocate for women's rights if they are only focused on one dimensional feminism. Mrs. Hinch and Marie Kondo are using their love for cleaning and channelling it into something profitable for them, whilst helping others in the process.

Their social media influence has really impacted me and my understanding of social media marketing and public relations, and how positive use of social media can result in amazing life changes. They're using their platform to create an environment for other people to engage in what they love and to embrace it. This has taught me that having a personal and passionate social media platform can encourage others like yourself to engage with you, becoming your client audience.