Zoella

• Media Language

  • Multimodal Content: Uses blogs, vlogs, YouTube, Instagram – all with visual and technical codes to build her brand.
  • Brand Evolution: From “teen girl with fairy lights” to mature “Zoe Sugg” brand with professional design and lifestyle content (parenting, beauty, wellness).
  • Language & Mode of Address: Friendly, personal, confessional – builds parasocial relationships.
• Media Language

  • Authenticity: Amateur aesthetic → relatable “ordinary girl” image.
  • Postmodernism (Baudrillard): Constructed reality that feels more real than real life.
  • Semiotics (Barthes) & Structuralism (Lévi-Strauss): Codes and signs build meanings and binary oppositions (e.g. homemade vs corporate).
• Audience

  • Target Demographic: 18–35-year-old women (majority 90% female), content now includes parenting and lifestyle for loyal, aging fans.
  • Prosumer Culture: Zoe creates and responds to audience needs, encouraging interaction and feedback.
• Audience Theories:

  • Gerbner (Cultivation): Viewers’ realities shaped by repeated messages (beauty, domesticity).
  • Jenkins (Fandom): Interactive community, loyal fanbase, emotional connection.
  • Shirky (End of Audience): Web 2.0 allows audience participation and influence on content.
• Representation

  • Gauntlett (Identity): Viewers see Zoe as the “big sister” and use her content to help form their own identities.
  • Butler (Gender Performativity): Reinforces femininity through beauty, home life, parenting, and emotional openness.
• Representation

  Hall (Representation):

  • Reinforces white, middle-class beauty standards.
  • Focus on fashion, makeup, lifestyle creates a consumerist feminine aesthetic.
  • Lacks diversity; supports dominant Western ideologies.
• Media Industries

  • Prosumer Success: First-gen YouTuber, now independent (Zoe Sugg Ltd, former Gleam Futures).
  • Monetisation: Earns through ads, sponsors, affiliate links, brand deals, and collaborations.
  • MCNs (Multi-Channel Networks): Help with revenue, legal and technical support.
• Media Industries

  • Cultural Industries (Hesmondhalgh): Early internet freedom now overtaken by commercialism and platform control.
  • Regulation (Livingstone & Lunt):
  • Self-regulation crucial to protect audiences and retain ad revenue.
  • Must follow YouTube, ASA, and CAP rules.
• Economic & Cultural Context

  • Economic: Focus on monetisation of online content (blog, vlogs, social media).
  • Cultural: White, middle-class, English lifestyle.
  • Social Impact: Advocates for women’s wellbeing (mental, physical, sexual health), but stays within traditional gender and family roles.