Modernity has gifted us with live-saving vaccines, instant and ubiquitous access to nearly all human knowledge, and a renaissance of advertising.
It’s also cursed us with anti-vaxxers putting children — your children, too — at risk of totally avoidable diseases, with digital addiction and loneliness, and of course, with the patronizing travesty of corporate feminism.
Time Magazine chose to honor the worst offender of the latter in their annual 100 Most Influential People list: Jane Walker.
Pam Elam at Time wrote of Johnnie Walker whiskey’s feminist revamp, “In challenging times like these, Jane Walker represents a step in the right direction. Jane Walker is a brand icon celebrating the many achievements of women and those on the shared journey toward gender equality and equal representation.”
There was no functional difference between Johnnie Walker Black Label and Jane Walker, just the branding. Diageo, the company that owns the Scotch brand, literally just believed that the Jane Walker stunt would make its product less “intimidating to women.”
The grand irony of performative feminism is how often it actually just manifests itself in blatant sexism. Jane Walker wasn’t a “step in the right direction.” It was an absurd attempt to pander to potential customers scared of big bad whiskey because, uh oh, there’s a guy on the bottle!
Women who like Scotch drink it because it’s amazing, not because they fall for the faux feminism of “Jane Walker.”
TIME included the Jane Walker entry under its “pioneers” section and quietly notes that the piece was written in official partnership with the brand. If there’s a silver lining to the whole embarrassment, it is that corporate feminism is fake feminism. It’s still capitalism, and everything in life, from wokeness to whiskey to the Time top 100, is for sale.
