Sephora Black Beauty Is Beauty CSP
Wider reading on Sephora Black Beauty Is Beauty
The Drum: Black Beauty is Beauty by RGA
Glossy: Sephora celebrates Black beauty in new digital and TV campaign
1) What was Sephora trying to achieve with the campaign?
Sephora was trying to celebrate and educate people about the influence black culture has on the makeup industry.
2) What scenes from the advert are highlighted as particularly significant in the articles?
The scene with a mother and daughter, the opening scene and the drag queens' dressing room.
3) As well as YouTube, what TV channels and networks did the advert appear on?
Digital platforms and television broadcasting.
4) Why does the Refinery29 article suggest the advert 'doesn't feel performative'?
No one feels left out. The film 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?
It is a pledge that retailers will have at least 15% of their products be black owned brands.
It is a pledge that retailers will have at least 15% of their products be black owned brands.
Media language: textual analysis
1) How does the advert use camerawork to communicate key messages about the brand?
There are many close ups on the actors which both promotes their makeup but also to praise individuality in identity whilst being part of a wider community such as black and/or queer.
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?
The editing shows a juxtaposition of present and past which show how modern beauty has ties to black culture. It is also in a past paced montage to show off many different people at different times.
4) How are verbal codes used to create meanings in the advert - the voiceover and text on screen?
The voiceover uses colloquial language multiple times to both relate to the target audience.
5) What is the overall message of the advert?
The overall message is to educate and celebrate the black culture that is rooted into the makeup industry.
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. Detailed study of the Sephora Black Beauty is Beauty advert should enable an understanding of how conventions of advertising are socially and culturally relative, dynamic, and can be used in a hybrid way.
2) Media theory: how are Butler, Gauntlett, bell hooks and Gilroy applied to the CSP?
-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.
-The Sephora advert reinforces Gauntlett’s ideas that there is now a much broader range of representations in the media, challenging traditional notions of gender identity. Gauntlett discusses the idea that identity is not fixed, and audiences can use media texts to help shape their sense of self by selecting versions of ourselves we want to “adopt”.
-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.
-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.
3) What aspects of media language are highlighted on page 3 of the factsheet?
There are mentions of “cut creases” and “beat faces”, which are terms used within Black American and drag slang culture. The phrase “these icons” is used while showing old footage of black icons in fashion, emphasising how black history and culture are responsible for many iconic beauty looks and trends.
4) How does the factsheet summarise the advert on the final page?
Overall, the advert deviates from the conventional focus on individual products or brands and instead centres 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, Identity, capitalism and gender fluidity.
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