Zoella Flashcards

Regulation

Regulation

• Ambassador for MIND

• Figurehead for National Citizen’s Service - aims to foster community spirit

• Part of 2014 Band Aid single

• Openly discusses her anxiety and panic attacks

• Became fastest selling author since records began

• Controversial Tweets

• Criticised for promoting “dangerous” ideas of beauty and perfection

• One of the causes of declining literacy among teenagers

Representation

• Stereotypical feminine codes - pastel pinks, fairy lights, flowing fabrics - construct stereotypical representation of femininity

• Menu bar on Zoella.co.uk includes hyperlinks “BEAUTY”, “FOOD”, AND “STYLE” - reinforces stereotypical, hegemonic representations of women as just being interested in those areas

• Zoella’s gender performativity constructs a hegemonically situated and stereotypical construction of female identity - manipulating dominant ideological perspective of her target

• Subverts stereotypical representations of women - open and honest about anxiety, occasionally appearing without makeup - relatable to young audience

• Only white people represented in her videos - inadvertently constructing racial hierarchy and enacting symbolic annihilation

Audience

• Zoella.co.uk adopts a friendly and welcoming mode of address to its white, working class, heterosexual female target audience

• Audience invited to participate with Zoella - recipes and instructions for making pancakes and other foods in her picnic articles

• Opportunities for audiences to interact directly with Zoella - YouTube comments and public events like VidCon

• Negotiated and oppositional readings - “fuckzoella” commentator on old version of her blog

• Since reinventing herself from Zoella to Zoe Sugg - conciously targeted older, still mainstream, working class female target audien

How Zoella targets the audience - Gender, Female

• Emotive content - narratives that engage with subject matter emotionally, tells us how she “feels” about problems she faces

• Stetrotypical female based activites in her presentation - fashion, makeup, relationships

• Costume stereotypically female - female colour palette deployed in mise-en-scene

• Use of pets or pet oriented references

• Presenter constructs a version of ideal beauty - highly stylised, lost of makeup, attention paid to costume

• Intimate confessional tone - relatable female character

• Quiet/passive presentation style - fits target audience with expectations and female presenter stereotypes

How Zoella targets the audience - Age, 13-24

• Heavy use of social media (Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat) - fit with social media applications most prominently used by this age group

• Collaborations with other YouTubers with same age group audience

• Deliberate amateur aesthetic - authenticity to this media-saturated audience segment

• Everyday activities of demographic are incorporated into narratives to create connections with target audience - shopping, eating fast food, stopping at drive throughs

• Fan connections showcased in uploads - fans represent real target audience

• Light comedic tone effected

• Youth oriented slang

• Use of YouTube commentary to create intimate connections with target audience

• Secondary target audience (parents, advertisers) - engaged by content that is safe in terms of sexual content and other taboo areas

How Zoella targets the audience - Socio-­eco­nomic groups, BC1C2

• Partnerships built with companies who target similar demographic groups - companies who represent high street fashion at value prices

• Language is moderately formal - some extended language deployed with Standard English - mirror lower-middle-class values and education background

• Zoella’s house represents an ideal youthful environment - a place of socialising and fun

• BC1 C2 targeting allows uploads to be associated with more lucrative advertising tie-ins

Media Industries

• YouTube channel homepage and blog present clear layout and clear user experience

• Presents her videos and hyperreal construction of life, femininity, and identity - fantastic yet relatable world to her target audience

• Binary oppositions constructed through Zoella, the idealised femininity, and Alfie , the stereotypical masculinity

• Typical fashion and lifestyle channel - range of appropriate paradigmatic features

• Deliberately amateurish cinematography and editing - constructs Zoella as relatable and human for her young target audience

Industry

• Audience engagement maximised through algorithmically optimised aspects - YouTube’s autoplay and Zoella.co.uk ‘s “Read Next” buttons

• Revenue predominantly generated through advertising and click through

• Independent and vertically integrated organisation - utilises external distributors such as Hodder and Stoughton to publish her books

• Motivated through profit and power

• Self regulated and occasionally has ran into legal implications from he Instagram feed - found guilty of promoting brands without announcing it was paid for content