Criticisms of Zoella
- She is not not 'real'. Her videos are sponsored by brands, and this heavily influences her content
- She is an online persona. She is presenting a very different representation to the world
- She exaggerates with her advocation of brands, and presents a distorted image of brands
- Her target audience is/was ‘tweenagers’, arguably an impressionable and vulnerable
- An aspirational figure that promotes potentially problematic viewpoints
- Selling cosmetic products reinforces patriarchal hegemonic values. Her brand is based on surface appearances
- Videos are hypercommodified with no attempt to hide their consumerist ideology
- Videos are extremely similar to one another, which is a classic example of not taking risks to maximise profit
Hyperreality - where the representation is more real than the thing being represented. Zoella presents a ‘perfect’ aspirational image to her tweenage target audience
Gender performativity: how society reacts to one’s performance of gender. Zoella’s tweenage audience may adopt Zoella’s performance of gender through buying Lush products, and emulating her look and style
Zoella’s rebranding
In approximately 2018, Zoella ditched the ‘Zoella’ moniker, and rebranded herself as ‘Zoe Sugg’. She moved away from producing vlogs, and pivoted towards a traditional blog approach to her brand, using the website www.zoella.co.uk
Rebranding: comparing the old zoella.co.uk with the new zoella.co.uk
An analysis of the new zoella.co.uk
A standard, straightforward and generic website design clearly based on a template, to construct an easy to engage with website design that is proven to be effective
Highly conventional layout, with a series of subheadings linking to appropriate content such as beauty, lifestyle and books
Links to her social media platforms present a hypermodal mode of address, inviting the target audience to engage with Sugg in a variety of different ways
A range of stereotypical feminine conventions including references to housework, interior design and makeup ensures that Sugg maintains her existing audience
Links to various Zoella branded products, for example her beauty and homeware ranges
White background allows the content to stand out to her target audience and is an example of Web 2.0. This design is so popular because it is effective, and is a classic example of minimising risk and maximising profit
The new Zoella website features a variety of different contributors as opposed to just Sugg, which suggests she is attempting to appeal to a wider audience
The new Zoella website has avoided many childish connotations from her old website, which can be seen in more sophisticated font choices.
For example , the masthead of her old, pre-2019 is written in a childish handwriting, which suggests that Sugg had sole ownership of the website. However, the rebranded website has a more sophisticated and professional quality
The masthead of her rebranded website consists of a single ‘Z’, which constructs a recognisable mode of address to her target audience. Her established audience is able to recognise either one other online personas, which constructs a polysemic mode of address
“The Lovehoney Christmas Gift Guide Your Horniest Friends Will Thank You For”
- The lexis of the title is clearly targeting a mature and sexually active audience. However the lexis is somewhat tongue in cheek, and takes a playful mode of address for her now older target audience. Her target audience are now potentially in their late 20s and early 30s. This broadly millennial audience are now the same age as Zoella, and are potentially interested in different things.
- The lexis is straightforward and certainly not subtle, with no hint of embarrassment.
- “We followed the yellow brick road to the city of orgasms” demonstrates a frank but playful mode of address for her now older and sexually active target audience
- The structure of the article is based around buying sex toys for friends. This not only breaks the taboo of discussing female masturbation (which is traditionally seen as hegemonically emasculating for male audiences), but also constructs a sex positive ideology that normalises topics such as masturbation with friends
- There are clear regulatory issues at play here. Zoella’s old material typically targets children. The content of this article is not suitable for younger audiences. However, the article is not pornographic and is not breaking any rules.
- “This article is part of a paid partnership with Lovehoney.” - the article is clearly paid for advertising by Lovehoney, a sex toy retailer. It is a legal regulatory obligation to announce any endorsement or sponsorship online