This gives us an opportunity to explore social and cultural contexts regarding race and ethnicity - while also looking at postcolonial theory and the changing representations of gender in advertising.
Notes from the lesson are here:
Sephora: introduction
Sephora is a French-owned global retailer of beauty products including cosmetics, hair carem skin care and more.
Work through the following tasks to make sure you're an expert on the Sephora CSP and particularly the wider social and cultural contexts.
Sephora: introduction
Launched in 1970 it now operates 2,300 stores across the world and income is $4bn a year (2022).
In June 2020, Sephora announced that it would take the 15% pledge - committing to fill 15% of their store shelf space with products from Black-owned businesses.
Sephora racial profiling scandal
Sephora was accused of racial profiling by rapper SZA in 2019 who claimed security staff had been called because a white rapper suspected her of shoplifting.
Celebrities such as Rihanna who had promoted Fenty Beauty products for the store responded to the tweet which ensured it became a major threat to Sephora's global brand.
Sephora responded by closing stores around the world for one day for 'inclusivity training' - though they claimed this was not a response to the criticism and had been planned for some time.
Sephora's 2021 Black Beauty Is Beauty campaign could be seen as an attempt to repair the brand's reputation and relationship with Black culture.
Sephora Black Beauty Is Beauty
The Sephora Black Beauty Is Beauty advert is aimed at YouTube and social media rather than TV placement.
The advert reflects a move from many brands from television to online broadcast adverts. This allows adverts that can run to longer lengths than the traditional 30 seconds and which therefore places limitations in construction and design.
The advert is here:
Stereotypes
Adverts often use stereotypes to communicate information quickly to their audience. For this Sephora advert, it was critical to its complex and challenging message that black stereotypes were not lazily reinforced.
Instead, the advert celebrates the way that elements of Black culture and cosmetics associated with Black culture have led to changes in the wider idea of mainstream beauty in the cosmetics industry.
It also helps to position Sephora as a 'woke' brand aware of the contributions of different races and ethnicities.
Representations in advertising
Erving Goffman defines adverts as "highly manipulated representations of recognisable scenes from 'real life'".
This means scenes that create a sense of personal identity in audiences while still offering an ideal or desirable take on 'real life'. In effect, 'this is what life could be'.
The Sephora advert's mise-en-scene (particularly the settings and locations) taps into this idea strongly.
Racial bias in search engines and algorithms
Linked to this advert, Sephora has also looked to highlight racial bias in online algorithms and machine learning. This YouTube video that accompanied the main advert, called 'What you need to know about Black beauty', explains the need for the campaign:
Blog tasks: Sephora Black Beauty Is Beauty CSP
Work through the following tasks to make sure you're an expert on the Sephora CSP and particularly the wider social and cultural contexts.
Wider reading on Sephora Black Beauty Is Beauty
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
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
Complete the following questions/tasks:
1) What was Sephora trying to achieve with the campaign?
1) What was Sephora trying to achieve with the campaign?
2) What scenes from the advert are highlighted as particularly significant in the articles?
3) As well as YouTube, what TV channels and networks did the advert appear on?
4) Why does the Refinery29 article suggest the advert 'doesn't feel performative'?
5) What is the 15 per cent pledge and why is it significant?
Advertising agency feature
The Black Beauty Is Beauty advertising spot was created by global creative agency R/GA. Look at their website feature on the project and answer the following questions:
1) Why did Sephora approach R/GA to develop the advert?
2) What was the truth that R/GA helped Sephora to share?
3) How did the advert 'rewrite the narrative'?
Sephora website: Black Beauty Is Beauty
Visit the Sephora website page on Black Beauty Is Beauty. Answer the following questions:
1) How does Sephora introduce the campaign?
2) What statistics are highlighted on the website?
3) What do we learn about Garrett Bradley - the director of the advert?
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?
2) How is mise-en-scene used to create meanings about black beauty and culture?
3) How is editing used to create juxtapositions and meanings in the advert?
4) How are verbal codes used to create meanings in the advert - the voiceover and text on screen?
5) What is the overall message of the advert?
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?
2) Media theory: how are Butler, Gauntlett, bell hooks and Gilroy applied to the CSP?
3) What aspects of media language are highlighted on page 3 of the factsheet?
4) How does the factsheet summarise the advert on the final page?
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?
A/A* extension tasks
Read this Marketing Dive feature on how Sephora is trying to alter Google search trends and highlight racial bias in algorithms and machine learning. You may then want to think about the following questions:
How is the Sephora advert an example of recent changes in media representations of ethnicity?
What does the advert tell us about the way new technology is changing the way adverts are constructed?
Why have brands moved towards online and social media platforms in their advertising?
How does the idea of ingrained racial bias in algorithms link to some of the postcolonial ideas we have studied recently?
Due date on Google Classroom.
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