Mommy in a Bottle: A Study on Commodified Motherhood as Projected in Select Sponsored YouTube Mommy Vlogs
Aliwate, K.D. (2019). Mommy in a Bottle: A study on commodified motherhood as projected in select sponsored YouTube mommy vlogs (Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis). College of Mass Communication, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City.
Abstract Vlogging as a form of social media content has not only become a new platform for amateur broadcasting but has also become a new advertising platform through influencer marketing. Mothers, as users of video-sharing platforms such as YouTube for authentic experience-sharing, have not been exceptions to being used for product or service promotion.
Through my study, I identified how mommy vloggers were used to construct and affirm motherhood identities through their product consumption. I problematized such representations of motherhood as portrayals which are more contrived to fit commercial standards than authentic as previously perceived. Through a critical discourse analysis, I analyzed the sponsored content of three prominent Filipina YouTube vloggers, namely: Judy Travis, Andi Manzano, and Anne Clutz, as they provide this study a variety of perspectives on motherhood from their varying approaches to vlogging.
This study finds that while mommy vlogging has the potential to empower women to shape their own identities, it is still used as a platform to promote a commercial ideal of motherhood which perpetuates consumerist culture. I believe that this study offers a new perspective in terms of situating the feminist movement within the evolution and development of new media.
Keywords: mommy vlogging, commodified motherhood, feminism, YouTube