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| Promotional images like this one are used by artists to encode their ideological perspective and to construct and cultivate a coherent brand identity. For Sugg, her face itself is her brand identity! So how can we analyse her face? |
- Sugg presents a straightforward and even bland set of fashion choices. This ‘corporate blandness’, typified by neutral creams and her high ponytail suggests neutrality and an unwillingness to portray unconventional lifestyles. This allows her to appeal to her vast target audience.
- The MES of her gold jewellery is further anchored through the symbolic connotations of her cream coloured jumper, which has significant connotations of purity and innocence
- Her costume is somewhat conservative, and in it’s baggy coverage somewhat subverts Van Zoonen’s ideological perspective that women’s bodies are a site of exploitation by male audiences
- Her makeup is prominent, yet applied in a somewhat neutral manner, and here takes on positive proairetic connotation: her makeup here symbolically connotes confidence and self affirmation
- Sugg is notable for starting her get ready with me videos by wearing no makeup, drawing attention to her acne and her skin conditions. Therefore her makeup here symbolically represents confidence and has a therapeutic quality
- Sugg’s smile is practiced, and emphasises the soft quality of her face. The lines of her smile are connotative of playfulfulness and silliness. However, we can argue that this smile has a cynical quality, and emphasises are certain practiced playfulness,
- This promotional image constructed a clearly hyperreal representation of Zoe Sugg. In fact, she has published a blogpost about how to take the perfect selfie, with hints and tips on how lighting can construct the perfect ideological connotations