SEPHORA BLACK BEAUTY IS BEAUTY

Wider reading on Sephora Black Beauty Is Beauty

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

- The campaign is part of the retailer’s broader commitment to advancing racial equity in the beauty and retail sectors.

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

- From the Black mom who laid our edges as children and taught us to use thick lotions instead of that watery mess, we birthed make-up and skin care with our love and shared it with the world. 

3) As well as YouTube, what TV channels and networks did the advert appear on?

- BET, OWN Hulu and HBO Max.

4) Why does the Refinery29 article suggest the advert 'doesn't feel performative'? 

- From the advert, no one feels left out as the film has inclusion.

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

- 15% pledge is where Sephora stocks 15% of their shelves with products from Black owned businesses.

Advertising agency feature

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?

- The ingenuity and influence of Black people have led to many of the beauty trends, ingredients, tools, and language we all enjoy. 

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

- The work was equal parts thesis and campaign spelling out the influence of Black beauty culture on mainstream beauty. Our launch film credited Black beauty for the cut crease, the hairbrush, and many more beauty staples we all enjoy. An editorial partnership with The Cut and an SEM takeover allowed us to continue sharing that history and giving Black beauty culture the credit it deserves.

Sephora website: Black Beauty Is Beauty

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 retailors are Black owned.

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

- 78% of shoppers across the retail industry don't see enough brands owned by or made for people of colour.

- 2 in 5 shoppers across the retail industry have personally experienced unfair treatment on the basis of their race or skin colour.

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

- Garrett is an American artist and filmmaker whose work focuses on themes including race, class, and the history of film in the US. In 2020, she was the first Black woman to win best director of a documentary at Sundance for her film Time. The film was also notably nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 2021 Academy Awards. This is her commercial debut.

Media language: textual analysis

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? 

Media factsheet

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? 

- Sephora as a brand talks about Black-owned businesses history as well as Black people's history bringing awareness.

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

- Butler's theory 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.

- 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’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.

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

- The camera pans across the salon in a typically fluid motion, a common convention of video advertising that creates a sense of momentum and energy. 

- Medium close-up shots of the tools of the “trade” are used to communicate the

idea that beauty comprises many elements that can be attributed to black origins. 

- The advert then utilises split screens and mirror shots to provide origin stories for tools and to showcase the products in action, creating a binary opposition between

old versus new.

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.

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?

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