‘Mindfulness for modern life’: The blending of Orientalism and neoliberal self-care strategies in the branding of Rituals

The article argues that the Dutch brand Rituals combines neoliberal self-care imperatives with Orientalist stereotypes of Eastern spirituality in its marketing. Analyzing the brand's online presence and flagship store, it contends that calls for mindfulness, gratitude, and positivity reflect a neoliberal 'psychological turn' while mobilizing Orientalist and neocolonial discourses to encourage emotional self-control. These narratives present the brand as a site of pleasure and calm, obscuring its reliance on female labor and depoliticizing global inequalities.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This article interrogates the conflation of neoliberal imperatives to self-care and Orientalist fascination with Eastern spirituality in the branding of Rituals, the Dutch self-care and cosmetics brand. Focusing on the brand’s online presence as well as its self-presentation through its flagship store, the article contextualises the Ritual’s calls for mindfulness, gratitude and positivity within the neoliberal ‘psychological turn’. At the same time, it demonstrates how the brand mobilises Orientalist and neocolonial discourses to incite its consumers to exercise emotional self-control and self-care. Neocolonial and neoliberal narratives in the branding of Rituals serve to portray the brand as the site of pleasure, quiet and calm, disguising its exigency for female labour and depoliticising the issue of global inequalities.