Blog tasks: Sephora Black Beauty Is Beauty CSP
Read these articles on the Sephora campaign:
The Drum: Black Beauty is Beauty by RGA
Glossy: Sephora celebrates Black beauty in new digital and TV campaign
Refinery29: Sephora’s ‘Black Beauty Is Beauty’ Short Film Celebrates Black Innovation
Complete the following questions/tasks:
1) What was Sephora trying to achieve with the campaign?
With this campaign Sephora try's to show how influential black history and beauty is to the makeup industry and also link with the black lives matter movement.
2) What scenes from the advert are highlighted as particularly significant in the articles?
The camera pans over Black women waiting under dryers as the narrator poses the question, “What is beauty without Black beauty”
3) As well as YouTube, what TV channels and networks did the advert appear on?
TV networks and digital channels like BET, OWN Hulu, HBO Max and YouTube; branded content and podcast advertising through Vox and New York Magazine’s The Cut; and digital ads across social media networks.
4) Why does the Refinery29 article suggest the advert 'doesn't feel performative'?
No one feels left out. Advert has more inclusion in its under-a-minute runtime than two hour features have in their whole film. Rather than dipping a toe in “diversity,”
5) What is the 15 per cent pledge and why is it significant?
a racial equity and economic justice initiative urging major retailers and corporations to commit at least 15% of their shelf space, sales revenue, and annual spend to support Black-owned businesses, aiming to address economic inequities and close the racial wealth gap. this is signfaciant because
Media language: textual analysis
Watch the advert again and answer the following questions that focus on technical and verbal codes. Use your notes from the lesson to help you here.
1) How does the advert use camerawork to communicate key messages about the brand?
The use of split of screen with side by side creates the image that Sephora is knowledgeable and understands the cultural context and that they acknowledge how important black beauty is in the industry
2) How is mise-en-scene used to create meanings about black beauty and culture?
Clamps
props- brush social context as people can relate to getting their hair brushed
setting- domestic setting with mom doing little girl braids which creates family and connection and relatability
3) How is editing used to create juxtapositions and meanings in the advert?
The use of split of screen with side by side creates the image that Sephora is knowledgeable and understands the cultural context
4) How are verbal codes used to create meanings in the advert - the voiceover and text on screen?
the verbal codes create meaning by using employed in communication to establish shared understandings, create messages, and influence the audience's interpretation some verbal codes are "it's influence is universal" which creates the idea of appreciating black beauty another thing is " none of the glow, none of the shine if they didn't doing it yourself into doing it for the culture" means that they are changing culture into business .
5) What is the overall message of the advert?
the overall message of Sephora's "Black Beauty is Beauty" advertisement is to highlight and celebrate the underappreciated contributions of Black culture to the beauty industry and to promote inclusivity and diversity within the beauty landscape. The campaign aims to recognize the rich history of Black beauty trends and techniques, like acrylic nails, glitter, and contouring, which have been adopted by the wider beauty world.
Media factsheet
Finally, go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet #259: Sephora Online Advert - Black Beauty Is Beauty. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets. If you need to access this from home you can find our factsheet archive here (you'll need to use your Greenford login).
1) Look at the exam hint on the first page. How does Sephora as a brand and the CSP specifically reflect contemporary social and cultural contexts?
The csp is talking about the history of black people and beauty which means that links with social and cultural context as its focusing on black beauty history and social and cultural impact.
2) Media theory: how are Butler, Gauntlett, bell hooks and Gilroy applied to the CSP?
Butler
Butler argues that gender is not strictly divided into two categories, male and female, but rather exists on a spectrum of gender identity. Gender is a social construct in which individuals “perform” their gender. This is represented in the advert when drag queens, who are anatomically male, perform traditionally female rituals by applying make-up.
bell hooks: Intersectionality
Hooks’ notion that black women are excluded from mainstream media representations is contested in this text. In the advert, the Sephora brand aims to attract a diverse audience, and all the females featured are people of colour. They are no longer marginalised; instead, “black beauty” is celebrated and recognized for its impact on the industry.
Gilroy: Postcolonial theory
Gilroy’s Postcolonial theory, which posits racial hierarchies, is challenged in this advert. The advert does not reinforce but rather challenges hegemonic standards of beauty, such as white, slim, Eurocentric features, etc. Individuals from the BAME (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) community, who have historically been underrepresented in beauty advertising, have been selected to feature in this advert. representation of age
3) What aspects of media language are highlighted on page 3 of the factsheet?
reinforce, bame , medium close up camera pans binary opposition.
4) How does the factsheet summarise the advert on the final page?
At the end of the advert, the message “Join Sephora in supporting and celebrating Black beauty” conveys the idea that Sephora is a brand leading the campaign for equality. This may be an effort to address past racial controversies and present Sephora as a company championing ethnic diversity and equality. The capitalisation of the letter “b” in the word “black” emphasises the notion of black power, its dominance, and importance.
Overall, the advert deviates from the conventional focus on individual products or brands and instead centers on the message of inclusivity and diversity. The audience is encouraged to relate to the depicted images of people in their own homes, bedrooms, and beauty salons, implying that this positivity is associated with the Sephora brand.
5) What are the four ideologies in advertising highlighted in task 8 on the final page of the factsheet? In your opinion, do you feel the Sephora CSP advert challenges or reinforces each of these?
Consumerism- they reinforce consumersim
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