EMPOWERING NARRATIVES OR MARKETING STRATEGY? NIGERIAN AUDIENCE REACTIONS TO FEMVERTISING IN THE “JOY SOAP ‘MY LIFE, MY SCRIPT’ CAMPAIGN”

Guided by Feminist Theory, this thesis examines how audience responses to Joy Soap’s ‘My Life, My Script’ campaign reflect, reinforce, or resist dominant gender norms in Nigerian society. Positioned as a form of femvertising, the campaign aims to challenge traditional expectations placed on women and promote narratives of empowerment. However, audience reactions reveal a complex negotiation of cultural values, personal experiences, and shifting gender ideologies. This study uses Critical Discourse Analysis to examine purposively sampled comments from the campaign’s Instagram comment section, focusing on four selected episodes. The analysis identifies discursive patterns that reveal key themes, including the reinforcement and resistance of traditional gender roles, evolving perspectives on femininity and motherhood, the complexities surrounding financial independence, body image, and the rejection of endurance culture that often glorifies women’s suffering. The study also captures public responses to Joy Soap’s corporate social responsibility efforts, with reactions ranging from appreciation to skepticism about the authenticity of the brand’s advocacy. Findings indicate that while some users uphold conventional gender expectations, many others challenge these norms, using the comment section as a space for critique, dialogue, and redefinition. The discourse sparked by the campaign reflects an ongoing cultural shift in gender perceptions and highlights the role of social media as a site for negotiating societal change. This research contributes to scholarship on feminist media studies, gender discourse, and public engagement in African contexts. It emphasizes the importance of audience voices in evaluating the impact of empowerment-oriented marketing and understanding how discourse shapes and contests social norms.