Advertising: Maybelline case study and wider reading

Maybelline 'That Boss Life Pt 1'

 



Use your notes from class to write about the connotations and representations created by the following technical and audio codes. Write at least a paragraph on each:
1) Narrative & genre: narrative theory and sub-genre

- Proppian heroes
- The girl in the cab gets "saved" by the two make up artists as soon as they give her the mascara which makes her "boss up" and have a whole makeover transformation 

2) Cinematography: camera shots and movement

- There is extreme close ups especially on the eye which makes sense seeing as it is advertising their new mascara and there is also repeated shots of the product which is a strategy to make the product memorable and give brand recognition.
There is also establishing shots which are quite iconographic and show the New York skyline which is quite inspirational by it self 

3) Mise-en-scene: costume & props

- The whole advert is based around glamour and gold which seems very rich, their is key scenes such as when they use the product and their identities change and they transform.

4) Mise-en-scene: actors, setting, lighting and colour

The actors are well known already and they even added a gay male actor which targets gay males and could probably make them feel more comfortable to wear make up and the whole setting was glamorous seeing as mostly everything revolved around gold and even the mascara is gold and purple which is a neutral colour. The setting is in New York City which makes the advert attractive and the lighting is a big part of the second ad seeing as it is night time and they stand out even more.

5) Editing: pace, transitions and visual effects

- They use slow motion to build affect and an example is when they throw the mascara on the bed and they fall back as if it is money

6) Graphics: text/graphics on screen

- They have a logo and the slogan "boss life" or "boss up" is repeated through out which makes it very memorable. This is also colloquial language which targets young people seeing as it is using young people speech. They also have #BossLife which is social media promotion.

7) Sound: dialogue, music and sound effects

- Exaggeration is used when he says "this is everything" and the type of music used is very current 

Complete the following questions/tasks:

1) Why was this campaign such a landmark for beauty product advertising?

- Because it was the first Maybelline advertisement using a gay male (MannyMua). This made the beauty product get more publicity.

2) What do the articles suggest regarding the changing representation of sexuality and masculinity?
-The articles suggest that men also care about how they look and would like to use beauty products as well.

3) Read this WWD article: Maybelline Taps Digital Makeup Influencers for New Mascara Campaign. Why might 'digital influencers' be so attractive to companies?

- They have lots of followers that they could relate to more they a celbrity could rlate so this would attract companies seeing as they could get lots of consumers.

4) Why do you think Maybelline chose to use MannyMua and MakeUpShayla in particular?
- The amount of followers they have and using a latin gay man and a straight black woman is not what people regularly see so it was different.

5) What does the WWD article suggest is the crucial factor for brands regardless of whether they use influencers or more traditional celebrities?

-The article suggests that “It tends to be a younger brand attracting younger consumers for which the power of the influencers is really strong,”. Therefore, the brand must have a positive image and use people with a high social media following in order to be successful.