Branded Women in U.S. Television

When People Become Corporations

By (author) Peter Bjelskou

Publication date:

18 December 2014

Length of book:

142 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9780739187937

Branded Women in U.S. Television examines how The Real Housewives of New York City, Martha Stewart, and other female entrepreneurs create branded televised versions of the iconic U.S. housewife. Using their television presence to establish and promote their own product lines, including jewelry, cookware, clothing, and skincare, they become the primary physical representations of these brands. While their businesses are serious and seriously lucrative, especially reality television enables a certain representational flexibility that allows participants to create campy and sometimes tongue-in-cheek personas. Peter Bjelskou explores their innovative branding strategies, specifically the complex relationships between their entrepreneurial endeavors and their physical bodies, attires, tastes, and personal histories. Generally these branded women speak volumes about their contemporaneous political environments, and this book illustrates how they, and many other women in U.S. television history, are indicative of larger societal trends and structures.

Part I
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: From Midcentury Housewives to Martha Stewart: Women and Products as a Staple in U.S. Television
Chapter 3: Zeitgeist and Camp at Bravo TV

Part II
Chapter 4: The Entrepreneurial Housewife: Jill Zarin and Alex McCord’s Branded Versions of the Domestic Goddess
Chapter 5: The Curious Presence of the Upper Class in Reality TV: Countess LuAnn de Lesseps and Sonja Tremont Morgan
Chapter 6: Embodying Neoliberalism: Bethenny Frankel’s Skinnygirl Empire

Conclusion

This textual analysis provides insightful commentary on reality TV and contemporary media culture. . . .A short and dense read, Branded Women is a recommended case study for the implications of unabashed consumerism and industry-sanctioned narcissism--critical facets to grasp in today's media landscape.