advert: Sephora media lang+rep Flashcards
historical context: who was it founded by and what was their focus?
- founded in France by Dominique Mandonnaud, with a focus on an open sell environment and a wide selection of brands
historical context: how many countries is Sephora in?
Sephora has expanded internationally, becoming a major player in the beauty retail industry in over 30 countries
cultural and social context: what does Sephora play a role in?
Sephora has played a role in shaping cultural perceptions and trends within the beauty industry
cultural and social context: what has Sephora increased their focus on?
Sephora increasingly focused on diversity and inclusion, with initiatives like the Sephora Squad, which aims to represent a wider range of voices and perspectives
cultural and social context: what has Sephora used to reach a wider audience?
Sephora has used social media and influencer marketing to reach a wider audience and promote it’s products/brands
cultural and social context: what does Sephoras marketing reflect?
Sephoras marketing reflects the evolving nature of beauty ideals, embracing diversity and inclusivity
political context: Sephoras success on the economy
Sephoras success has a significant economic impact, creating jobs and contributing to the growth of the beauty industry
political context: what responsibility has Sephora taken on?
Sephora has taken on the social responsibility initiative, addressing issues like sustainability and introducing the “take back” solution for empty beauty packaging
5 of Sephoras brand values?
- committed to building an inclusive organisation (2.3% of employees have a disability)
- free of judgement
- standing together to celebrate differences
- create and advocate for the future of sustainable beauty (reduce carbon footprint, “take back” solution)
- part of LVMH family, constantly transforming and elevating the beauty experience
who created the Sephora ‘black is beauty’ ad?
R/GA media
3 places the ad was shown and who does this target?
- YouTube (reach a global audience)
- breaks on the Oprah Winfrey channel
- Black Entertainment Television
(helps them target a black American audience where Sephora was primarily based at the time)
who directed the ad and what so important to know about the crew?
advert was directed by Garrett Bradley - a black female director and she used a black female crew/production company
media representation: why did Sephora make the advert?
Sephora found a search engine bias, where there was little about the history of black beauty in google search results - someone searching ‘black beauty’ would see a book by Anna Sewell but nothing about beauty in black people or brands. their history was being erased
media representation: what did Sephora ask online content creators and users to do to support the Black beauty movement?
they asked people to start tagging online content about black makeup, products or beauty with the hashtag #BlackBeauty - memorable, effective and can reach a wide audience
media representation: what did the hashtag allow social media to normalise?
social media has normalised conversations and debates about important issues e.g racial inequality
media representation: what is Sephoras research also find about black owned products in stores?
their research also found a number of statistics that black products were not being sold and promoted equally and that racism in beauty stores was an issue.
media representation: what were the statistics from the research about black owned beauty brands in stores?
3% of beauty brands were black owned and 78% of shoppers said they don’t see enough brands made from people from different ethnic backgrounds. 2/5 shoppers experienced racial discrimination based on their skin colour in stores - may explain why audience needed more positive representations of ethnicity and beauty
media representation: 2 things Sephora did to increase diversity in stores?
- committed to the 15% pledge and increased the number of black-owned brands sold in its stores and online
- closed the stores to give the employees extra diversity training
media language: what does the hair salon setting connote and the diegetic sounds?
the hair salon setting is familiar and comforting to audience. old fashioned looking suggests black beauty has been around for ages and you can’t ignore it. the diegetic sounds of laughing suggest confidence
media language: what impact does the split screen of the hair brush create?
split screen creates binary opposite between old vs new or past vs present. it draws parallels between black inventions/history and current trends/products e.g the hair brush celebrates Lyda Newman (black female who invented the hairbrush)
media language: use of jargon to target a black audience
the use of jargon such as ‘cut creases’ and ‘beat faces’ is targeting a black audience
media language: what is the significance of mentioning ‘baby hairs’ and ‘laid edges’?
the media often fails to represent black hair or issues surrounding styling it - ad mentions and shows ‘baby hairs’ and ‘laid edges’ creating a realistic representation of black hair care
media language: what is the significance of the woman making her own butter?
mixing bowls in the kitchen creates the idea that many black products are DIY created - reflects context that black people ending up creating their own products as companies were not catering to them
media language: what is the significance of mentioning acrylic nails and hair extensions?
draws further attention to products and tools created by minority communities as modern audiences wouldn’t know they came from black history
media language: what does ‘the styles we can’t wait to post’ connote?
picture in picture and voiceover about posting reflects trend of online beauty videos. may also reflect context of cultural appropriation, where white people have taken credit for ideas created originally by people of colour
media language: what does the cut from the white person doing a cut crease to the drag queen doing it reinforce?
reinforces the idea that the trend was originally something from black drag culture - perhaps suggests that LGBTQ+ communities have also started beauty trends that they don’t get credit for
media language: what does the use of different age, gender, body shape, skin tone show?
shows diversity and that makeup can be used on everyone
media language: what does the 12 picture split screen emphasise?
emphasises the number of people involved in the creation of trends and trying to engage and attract people form a variety of backgrounds
media language: what does the inclusion of drag queens and males show?
avoids gender stereotyping about makeup and shows everyone can enjoy makeup - reflects the growing acceptance of makeup being for men too and the rise of male beauty vloggers (more diverse gender representations in the media)
what happened in the 1960s and what did this allow?
the decriminalisation of homosexuality act gave way for people to express their identity and be who they want to be
media language: what does the ‘join sephora’ at the end suggest? what’s the significance of capitalising the word Black in ‘Black beauty?
Sephora is leading the campaign to celebrate black beauty - creates a powerful and supportive representation of the brand (in the past, they has issues with racial profiling within stores e.g SZA do this is a deliberate choice by the brand to present the company as being willing to fight for ethnic diversity).
Capitalising the word ‘Black’ creates message that being Black is powerful
Theorist: Judith Butler
- gender performativity - shows women applying makeup and styling their hair - women perform their gender and these performances have been assigned by society to each gender and society expects us to repeat this
- subversion of gender norms-men wearing makeup, drag queens - by performing gender differently from the stereotypical expectations, they are challegening and changing gender norms which opens up possibilities of new ways of expressing gender
- influence of language - “black is beauty” - advert is embracing and celebrating everyone - use of language highlights inclusive nature of the store and ‘join sephora’ shows sephora is leading the campaign for change - also used language to change the search engine algorithm #BlackBeauty
- Bodies and gender - what we think of as ‘natural’ differences between men and women are shaped by social norms - advert shows a diverse inclusivity of different body types which challenges societies view
- Challenges essentialism - challenges the idea that gender is biologically determined - black drag queens wearing makeup - shows you can be who you want and makeup helps gain confidence and express yourself
Theorist: Clay Shirkey
end of audience - audiences are becoming more active - prosumers - the advert promotes to use the hashtag #Blackbeauty on posts - engages audience - shows audience are less passive nowadays and want to take part in movements to change the media for the better
