SEPHORA

• The cosmetics manufacturer Sephora is owned by the massive multi national corporation LMVH Moet/Hennessy Louis Vuitton. 
• In 2021 Sephora launched the ‘Black Beauty is Beauty’ a brand new digital advertising campaign on American TV and online including YouTube. 
• The new beauty campaign is groundbreaking and unique for its brand as it is aimed at celebrating the Black traditions and inventions that have propagated many modern and popular mainstream traditionally white beauty trends.

  
  

  “Many of the modern beauty trends today, including:-

  Acrylic nails, Glitter, Contouring, Stylized Baby Hairs, Cut-Crease Eyeshadow, Glitter, Shea Butter-Based Skincare. and many more have roots in Black culture,” 
• The advertising campaign is part of the retailer’s stated commitment to advancing racial equity in the beauty and retail sectors.
• POSITIVE SOCIAL IMPACT

  Sephora have committed to increasing their positive social impact by empowering women in their company. Their stated aim is to build a more inclusive workforce and improve the retail experience for not only African American women but all its diverse consumers. 
• INCREASED REVENUE & PROFIT

  This progressive retail philosophy will if successful result in an increase in revenue and profits for the company by tapping into previously untapped and overlooked areas of the beauty industry.
• DAVID GAUNTLETT

  David Gauntlett believed media texts such as in this case an advertisement were a “reflection of changing attitudes” and they were “actively disseminating modern values”. The “Black beauty is beauty” campaign is certainly reinforcing his point because the brand is supporting its target audience’s desire for change by positioning itself as the champion of diversity.
• THE  SHORT FILM ADVERTISEMENT

  The advertisement was created by the marketing company R/GA Media and broadcast on two major American television networks with a primary target audience of African Americans:-

  Black Entertainment Television (BET) 

  and Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). 

  STREAMED ON TO YOUTUBE + DIGITAL PLATFORMS

  The short film was Directed by  Oscar nominated documentary film maker Garrett Bradley. 
• MONTAGE

  The film is a sixty second montage of intimate observations of people getting their hair done and applying makeup.

  The narrator refers to the significant contribution of Black beauty pioneers who patented the first hairbrush with synthetic bristles to make styling more hygienic and efficient. This invention completely changed the mainstream hair-care industry and how the “laid edge” style emerged from Black mothers creating tight coils on their children’s hair.
• Codes and conventions:

  
  

  CAMERA MOVEMENT

  The camera is constantly moving through the spaces and locations called dolly shots. It zooms in to medium shots and close ups of the subjects. 

  SOUND

  The sound is a mixture of diegetic natural sound and non diegetic sound such as the voice of a narrator.

  COLOUR

  There is a noticeable use of a pastel colour palette in the mis en scene with brightly coloured costumes and settings.

  MODE OF ADDRESS

  The subjects in the video mainly use indirect mode of address looking away from the camera often at mirrors as they apply their makeup.
• 15 PERCENT PLEDGE

  The campaign continues Sephora’s commitment to:- 

  Diversity, 

  Equity 

  and Inclusion. 

  Sephora became the first major retailer to commit to the 15 Percent Pledge (which is to carry 15% more Black-owned brands).
• FAMILIAR SPACES

  Sephora’s short film advertisement avoids images of its stores and instead locates the camera inside spaces and locations which are familiar to its target audience. This is epitomised by the opening shot of the beauty parlour – a culturally important signifier because they often connote a sense of community and friendship. By connecting the brand to a mother and daughter in their living room, for example, the advertisement could be implying the stores are just as safe and warm as your own home.
• RACE & ETHNICITY

  The advertisement features a diverse cast engaging in their own beauty rituals and makeup routines:-

  The black women in the beauty parlour and its sense of community; 

  Drag Queens preparing for a show, 

  A Mother tight coiling her daughter’s hair; 

  Carnival Dancers; 

  Asian women

  Men from the LGBTQ community who wear make up.

  and 

  Young Women from different ethnic and racial groups getting ready in their rooms.
• The producers of the advertisement have encoded a very clear message – many of the mainstream beauty trends and products have their roots in Black beauty culture and that innovation should be celebrated by everyone.
• BELL HOOKS

  RACIAL IDENTITY

  In her criticism of Hollywood cinema, bell hooks argued the representation of “glamour” and “beauty” on the big screen eg cinema was “always encoded as white”. 
• Bell hooks also said that advertisements in the past were often a “primary vehicle for the dissemination and perpetuation of white-supremacist and patriarchal values” and there is no doubt Black women have been underrepresented in advertising, often reduced to stereotypes. The Sephora advertisement addresses this in a positive progressive way with positive representations of black women as mothers,trend setters and entertainers.
• JUDITH BUTLER

  GENDER IDENTITY

  Judith Butler argued gender identities are not fixed or natural forms but are constructions which give us a framework to view ourselves and our bodies. Her concept of gender performativity refers to the ways society, including the media, forces people to conform to a particular set of gender roles and values. However, these “illusions of identity” were being subverted and displaced by representations, such as drag, which demonstrated gender was actually a “stylized repetition of acts” we all perform.
• DRAG CULTURE

  In one scene in the Sephora advert, three drag queens are in a dressing room beating their faces – a makeup style consisting of dramatic contouring, cut crease eyeshadow and charismatic glows. The Sephora advertisement is celebrating the influence of drag culture on mainstream beauty trends, but also recognising gender identities are not limited to the traditional binary definitions of just men and women. In other words you can write your own narrative because beauty belongs to everyone.
• MAKING SPACE FOR BLACK BEAUTY

  Sephora came to R/GA ready to do something about racial equity in the beauty industry. The company had already signed the 15% pledge—a commitment to dedicate at least 15% of shelf space to Black-owned brands. 

  It had already commissioned a study on racial bias in retail and was making plans to combat bias in its own stores. 
• GOOGLE & YOUTUBE SEARCHES

  The beauty retailer wants people to see more images of Black women and men when they search "Black beauty" on Google or YouTube search engines.

  When searching 'black beauty' a horse from a famous film appears before the actual make up ideals for black people
• R  / G A

  As part of its "Black Beauty Is Beauty" initiative Sephora in partnership with  R/GA strived to improve the visibility of its content and products for Black consumers. The goal was to make those images easier for search algorithms to crawl and index and to surface them to the top of results.
• #BlackBeauty hashtag

  This 90-second film, urges viewers to mark relevant content with the #BlackBeauty hashtag. Tagging content helps people find it, especially on social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter, while visual search is becoming a more important part of search engine optimization strategies(SEO)The tagging strategy aims to influence search algorithms over time so that they recognize Black beauty content, images and links over content related to the black horse novel or films.
• SOCIAL & CULTURAL CONTEXTS

  TRUMP + BLM

  The social and cultural contexts refer to what,when and where of what was going on at the time the media text was produced which in this case is America in 2021 in the aftermath of Donald Trump's presidency and the murder of George Floyd by a white policeman which shocked the country and the world. This led to a resurgence in the black lives matter movement(BLM) and a newfound willingness to engage with the black community from (big white owned) corporations such as LMVH Moet/Hennessy Louis Vuitton.
• # MOVEMENTS

  Activists for political and social change can reach across digital networks with familear hashtags eg #metoo and slogans eg Black Lives Matter to bring their movement or agenda to the attention of a global audiences. Social media has normalised conversations and debate about important issues, such as:- 

  Climate Change, Sexism & Misogyny(#metoo) Abortion Rights, Poverty, Racial Inequality(BLM) LGBT Issues, Human Rights. Messages are shared around the world through retweets, follows, likes, and collaborations with just a few swipes and taps on their screens.
• COMBATTING RACISM FROM WITHIN

  As a result of the SZA racial profiling incident, the company has created new employee training programs to ensure all shoppers are greeted promptly and consistently. The company is enacting a zero-tolerance policy — meaning immediate termination — for profiling, discrimination, harassment and retaliation by employees. Annual performance reviews will include new inclusivity-based metrics, and the company is phasing out third-party security guards in favor of in-house employees who have been trained in the company’s new policies. 
• Description of the video: 'This short film celebrates the tremendous impact and influence of Black beauty on the industry at large'
• Only 3% of major beauty retailers are black owned
• Director of the music video Garrett Bradley also directed "Time" a short movie bringing awareness to the mistreat of black people in the criminal justice system.
• Due to search engine bias that predominantly shows a black horse relating to the film and book when ‘Black Beauty’ is searched, Sephora created an online campaign and strategy to make sure that Black Beauty products, as well as their ‘Black Beauty is Beauty’ advert gain the exposure and credit they deserve.