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| The thumbnail image preview for this video uses anchorage to perfectly encapsulate the joy of a consumerist lifestyle. The combination of Sugg's performatively winning smile, the mildly sexual connotations of her costume, and the further reinforcement of the proairetic potentiality of the mise-en-scene of her bulging Primark back serves to construct a representation of commodity as fetish. This frenzied unwrapping and revealing of commodities constructs a rapid-fire montage dopamine hit for her then younger and potentially more vulnerable target audiences |
- Zoe Sugg, here in her Zoella persona/character ostensibly ‘reviews’ a range of jewellery and later clothes from the affordable height street fashion giant Primark. Popular with British working class women, the inclusion of Primark merchandise allows Sugg appeal to a larger and also more targeted audience .
- However, this working class mode of address is clearly at odds with Sugg’s status as a multimillionaire entrepreneur. This simultaneously constructs Sugg as a humble and down to earth working class girl yet simultaneously a extravagant and aspirational figure
- This video takes a clearly capitalistic and consumerism related mode of address, that clearly supports the ideology that purchasing items can lead to a better lifestyle. This potentially depressing lifestyle is simply not sustainable, in terms of radical expenditure. Additionally, the production of cheap, fast fashion is reliant on the exploitation of vulnerable workers in third world countries. Interestingly, the rhetoric of huge ‘haul’ videos has come under criticism, which reflects a subtle shift in ideology.
- Haul videos are popular in the same way surprise egg videos are possible, and provide her young and impressionable audience with an escapist fantasy that is clearly not sustainable. However this fantasy models addictive and problematic behaviour, with short term hits of dopamine
- Suggs in her Zoella era would sometimes command anonymous hatred from online users
- The video takes the form of a haul video. Objects are removed one by one, and held up in front of the camera in a series of ECUs. This reinforces a clearly capitalist and consumerist ideological perspective. In fact, by emphasising the MES of these consumer products in a carousel of consumerism and commodity fetishism. This is further reinforced by the straightforward and meaningless appraisal of each item. Sugg (here in here Zoella format) simply comments on the price (“it’s £1.50! You can’t go wrong!”) and that she will wear it.
- Primark is marketed as an affordable shop. Here however, Sugg has purchased (or had purchased for her) a vast amount of products, seemingly breaking the very values of Primark.
- This address is potential harmful in a number of ways. The environmental impacts of fast fashion are considerable. Fast fashion is predicated on the exploitation of workers
- “Whoever made these socks: I love you!” Sugg’s blatant and almost fetishistic love of consumerism comes through explicitly in this video
- Sugg here presents a clearly contradictory mode of address, with the ‘relatable’ address conflicting with her clear status as an established millionaire super vlogger. This disingenuous mode of address may in fact may alienate her audiences. In later videos, she has pivoted to exploring more luxurious brands, which again may further alienate audiences.