LOCALIZED POSTFEMINIST SENSIBILITY IN WARDAH'S 'BEAUTY MOVES YOU' CAMPAIGN

Abstract

Women’s empowerment is central in global advertising but increasingly commodified. Previous studies have largely focused on halal branding, leaving localized postfeminist sensibilities in Muslim-majority contexts underexplored. This study examines how Wardah’s Beauty Moves You campaign constructs a localized postfeminist sensibility by merging global empowerment ideals with Indonesia’s Islamic and cultural values. Through qualitative textual and visual analysis of two advertisements (2021–2023) from Wardah’s YouTube channel, the study identifies three interconnected dimensions of empowerment: faith-based modesty, social purpose, and modern identity. The findings show that Wardah reframes beauty as an ethical force grounded in moral composure and communal solidarity, shifting individual autonomy toward socially and spiritually anchored self-expression, thus contributing an alternative empowerment model to feminist media scholarship.