Maybelline "Boss Life" CSP

 

Maybelline Advert

'That Boss Life' Media Language and Representation analysis

1) Narrative & genre: narrative theory and genre theory/sub-genre

Manny and Shayla are in a hotel room for a transition video. It implies that actors and important women use the mascara, which encourages others to purchase it in order to feel unique. All is bland and ordinary until they apply makeup, dress up, and everything becomes more stylish.

2) Cinematography: camera shots and movement

At the end, there's a close-up of the mascara itself to show Maybelline's product and what they have to give customers. Using many closeups, it fetishizes the eyes while adding product, which  allows customers to see the product's power and the changes it causes.

3) Mise-en-scene: costume & props

Influencers on the internet still have a sizable following. As a result, whether they star in an advert billboard, the influencer's fanbase would watch the commercial, resulting in a large audience for the brand.

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

 It's understandable that they picked them when they already have a large following. The two people in the advert are already major infuencers.

5) Editing: pace, transitions and visual effects

Bright lights are present when they open the suitcase and use the product to emphasise the mascara's 'heaven-like' quality.  Fast-paced editing with plenty of zooms reveals the difference and implicitly indicates the product's results before and after use.

6) Graphics: text/graphics on screen

The influencers' lavish lifestyle is suggested by gold text. Sans serif font denotes the mascara's clean, modern qualities.

7) Sound: dialogue, music and sound effects

When they open the suitcase, sound effects are heard, indicating that the product is valuable.  'Let's get bossed up,' says the dialogue, reminding the viewers of the tagline. Manny and Shayla's transformation after using the product is symbolised by a shift in music's tempo.

Maybelline 'That Boss Life': wider reading

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

It's Maybelline's first time collaborating with makeup influencers, and it's also the brand's first time featuring a man as the face of a campaign. After decades of restricting cosmetics advertisements to adults, beauty companies are now catching on that makeup isn't strictly about women.

2) What do the articles suggest regarding the changing representation of sexuality and masculinity?

Typically, beauty ads will attract women by incorporating them into the graphic elements and excluding men from the design entirely. After decades of restricting cosmetic advertisements to women, beauty companies are now accepting the notion that men should still use makeup to portray themselves.

3) Why might 'digital influencers' be so attractive to companies?

Famous internet influencers will have a big effect on their followers because they can make almost anything into a movement, which their followers can emulate because they want to be like them.

4) Why do you think Maybelline chose to use MannyMUA and MakeUpShayla in particular?

They also have a large following, which combines with Maybelline's faithful customers, but Manny and Shayla both align with Maybelline's whole goal with their 'the boss life' offering. They embodied the ‘boss' beauty mentality in this advertisement like no one else, taking this theme to life on-screen to inspire their millions of followers to ‘lash like a boss' as well.

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

The product itself is relevant because it is the main topic of the advertisement, and even though there are no influencers in your advertisement, the nature of the product should be the main priority. “The real power today is if you have somebody recognizable who is also socially effective, a celebrity that has credibility. Celebrities who live in this new world can become hugely powerful.”


Media Magazine: The Changing Face of Masculinity

1) What message does the article suggest the Score hair cream advert is trying to communicate to the 1967 audience?

A big picture of a laughing man posing as a hunter with a rifle appears in the Score commercial. Five women clad in sexualized hunting outfits hold him aloft on a tiger-skin platform. Four ladies, some with a sultry smile, look up at him adoringly. The commercial makes use of female sexuality to demonstrate to men that they can be strong.

2) How does the article suggest the Score hair cream advert uses narrative to sell the product?

It's a daring declaration to say, "Get what you've always wanted." It suggests that once the customer buys the hair product, they can get whatever they want.

3) What 1967 stereotypes does the article suggest the Score hair cream advert reinforces?

The advertising industry invested millions of pounds in the 1960s, as it does now, attempting to persuade people that brands could really do what they promised, and many consumers accepted what they were told to varying degrees. The sector has long been chastised for underestimating customers' intellect.

4) Applying Stuart Hall's reception theory, what does the article suggest the preferred and oppositional readings could be for the Score hair cream advert?

The masculine concepts portrayed in the picture are detrimental to male self-esteem and portray women as passive and simply decorative, according to an opposing reading or objective view. As a heterosexual man, you can gain power and influence, according to one interpretation of the Score text.

5) Moving on to the Maybelline advert, why is the background of Manny Gutierrez and Shayla Mitchell significant?

Since the public would look up to them and aspire to their job and personal life, their history has an influence on the advertisement and the audience.

6) What is the narrative of the Maybelline advert?

Just by applying mascara transports the wearer to a more refined culturally diverse existence surrounded by the finer things in life.

7) What does the article suggest the Maybelline advert's message is?

According to the post, the message of the Maybelline commercial is to inspire young people by making them feel unique and glamorous. This commercial's motto is "lash like a boss." The commercial, which features a male influencer, implies that gender has no bearing on who should feel like a boss.

8) The final section of the article focuses on masculinity. What do the Score advert and the Maybelline advert suggest regarding the changes in society and media between 1967 and 2017?

All advertisements imply that culture and the media have evolved over the past 50 years. In 1967, society was much more conservative, with masculinity being seen as superior, while the Maybelline commercial empowers hyper-masculinity and youth.