Sephora Black Beauty Is Beauty CSP

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

Complete the following questions/tasks:

1) What was Sephora trying to achieve with the campaign?

Sephora were trying to counter the racist claims they had pushed against them following the incident with rapper SZA by trying to celebrate black history inside of black beauty.

2) What scenes from the advert are highlighted as particularly significant in the articles?

A beauty parlour, a drag show dressing room, and a Black mother with her daughter.

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'? 

As they demonstrate everyone hence the statement that no one is left out.

5) What is the 15 per cent pledge and why is it significant?

They pledge that they aim to demonstrate 15% black owned brands within the hair category


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?

Sephora came to R/GA ready to do something about racial equity in the beauty industry. 

2) What was the truth that R/GA helped Sephora to share?

That a lot of the beauty trends popularised today stem from black culture.

3) How did the advert 'rewrite the narrative'?

By educating audiences and users.


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?

At Sephora, we believe in championing all beauty, living with courage, and standing fearlessly together to celebrate our differences.

2) What statistics are highlighted on the website? 


.3% of brands at major beauty retailers are Black owned.

.<1% of venture capital funding goes to Black-owned businesses





3) What do we learn about Garrett Bradley - the director of the advert? 

She focuses predominantly on themes such as race , class and history and she was the first black woman to win best documentary.


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?

It demonstrates different types of people in different ways in order to come across as diverse.

2) How is mise-en-scene used to create meanings about black beauty and culture?

Make-up and costume is highly used in order to demonstrate black culture through the way people are shown.

3) How is editing used to create juxtapositions and meanings in the advert?

It shows differences through the cuts and transactions and meanings of the advert are also conveyed.

4) How are verbal codes used to create meanings in the advert - the voiceover and text on screen? 

The text on screen further pushes the meanings of what the advert was created for.

5) What is the overall message of the advert? 

To incorporate the idea that beauty stems from black culture as well as signifying that black beauty is highly important in regards to Sephora.


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 advert is an example of a contemporary media product and should be used to support the study of the theoretical framework (media language and media representations). It should also be used to explore the theories and debates required within the specification.

2) Media theory: how are Butler, Gauntlett, bell hooks and Gilroy applied to the CSP?

The idea that audiences can control the success of the product based on responses and reactions.

3) What aspects of media language are highlighted on page 3 of the factsheet? 

Mise-en-scene , camerawork/transitions.

4) How does the factsheet summarise the advert on the final page?

The message that directors were trying to push across was forced to be understood by audiences as it was clarified.

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. Identity. Capitalism. Gender fluidity. 
I feel that Sephora challenges these.


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