Essay 3

REFLECTIVE PRACTICE

"As androgyny and gender fluidity become the norm rather than the exception in today's cultural landscape, brands are faced with the challenge of tackling gender norms both in their advertising and the products they offer," Ruth Bernstein (2016). In modern society gender neutrality is becoming more accepted as the inequality between men and women is becoming eradicated. Subvert is a gender-neutral makeup brand, who’s demographic is not specified to one age range or gender. Originally the Visual Investigation brief aimed to rebrand the makeup brand, Morphe. Recently the company has grown in popularity, however the logo and overall look of the brand doesn’t suit the exceptional reputation the brand has built. After further research into the project, especially during the demographic analysis section, it became clear that the developing concept was becoming too far removed from, albeit stronger than, the original idea. Therefore, instead of rebranding an existing company, the decision was made to create a new cosmetics brand focusing on the premise of the brand not being gender specific, as anyone should be able to wear make up. Make up brands are often aimed at females, including advertising and packaging, the designs tend to use typically 'gendered' colours, for example, pink for more products aimed towards women. The intent is to create a brand that is gender neutral and not aimed towards any gender in particular, in order to keep the company modern and changing with the times. Subvert is intended to have a positive effect on teenagers who want to buy makeup. Chris Hudson (2010) discusses in his article ‘How Branding Is Shaping Teenagers’, that how teenagers base their identity and what brand they belong to, can “be stronger and overshadow the values of developing integrity, thought out values and sound relationships as the basis for understanding who they are.” The idea for a gender-neutral make up brand arose from the belief that not only women should be able to wear make up and the knowledge that there is an increasing amount of successful male ‘beauty guru’s’ challenging the traditional gender constructs. Outcomes for the brief include a logo, product packaging and an advertising campaign to promote the brand. The advertising campaign focused on distributing the information via social media, as it is a more modern channel of communication.

Many products are tailored to attract specific genders, for example, the chocolate bar Yorkie used to carry the slogan ‘Not for Girls’. This tagline was discontinued in early 2012 along with the original packaging, which featured the universally recognised icon for a woman as well as the prohibited sign, further enforcing the idea that women couldn’t buy or eat the brand. The same premise is behind women’s and men’s razors. The packaging of products aimed at different genders relies on colour to attract these specific audiences. Female razors tend to be pink or purple whereas men’s razors are usually darker colours like blue or grey. Subvert aims to counteract these gender biases by avoiding typically gendered colours completely. Instead of using pink and blue for female and male products respectively, the colour palette is limited to monochrome with the addition of a pale green. Green was chosen as it considered as a neutral colour, and one that is not typically ‘assigned’ to any gender. It evokes the emotion of growth, which can be attributed to society’s growing acceptance of non-conformity and individuality. This colour palette is applied across Subverts packaging and advertising, providing consistency across the brand.

As well as using colour to attract a certain gender, companies use advertisements in order to draw in the intended consumer base. Cosmetic companies traditionally use female supermodels to wear and advertise their products – the use of a beautiful female face prompts other women to buy these products in the hope that they will look like the model wearing the product. However, by exclusively employing female models, the company is encouraging traditional gender norms and excluding any other genders. Recently, big name make up brands have teamed up with ‘beauty boys’, men who have made their name in the make up world creating tutorials online. An example of this is Maybelline who has partnered with Manny Gutierrez, known online as MannyMUA, to promote diversity in the world of beauty. The progression shown in this move by Maybelline reflects the change in attitudes towards the relationship between gender and cosmetics – however the company still uses the tagline ‘maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s Maybelline’. Despite the push towards a growing inclusivity of other genders, the fact the female oriented tagline is still being used highlights the effect gender norms have had on society. Whereas on social media platforms such as Instagram it has become more of a regular occurrence to see brands promoting male make up artists, the likelihood of seeing a man in make up on television is very slim.

Subvert has aimed to counteract this limitation in advertising by choosing to partner with diverse well - known social media influencers to endorse the brand. The celebrities chosen include a young Filipino male, a fuller figured woman as well as a transgender woman of colour. Using diverse celebrities of different races, ages and gender in the social media campaign expands the inclusivity of the brand and creates brand recognition as well as building up a solid reputation.

Nike used a similar tactic in their 2011 ‘Make Yourself’ women’s wear campaign (fig 1.) By using a diverse range of female athletes from all over the world the campaign is as inclusive as it could be – despite it only advertising women’s sports wear and so exclusively using female athletes, the campaign in question celebrates a range of ethnicities.

Subvert relates to the overarching theme of society by challenging archetypal gender norms that still are a major contention in todays world. While attitudes towards gender and in particular its relationship with make up and beauty are shifting towards a growing acceptance, the standards and restrictions enforced on all genders continue to plague society, creating unease within individuals who feel repressed and unable to express or be their true selves. Subvert has aimed to challenge these norms and include all genders and personalities within its neutral branding.

fig 1

Adweek. 2016. Brands Are Throwing Out Gender Norms to Reflect a More Fluid World. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/brands-are-throwing-out-gender-norms-reflect-more-fluid-world-174070/. [Accessed 24 April 2017]

Understanding Teenagers. 2015. How Branding Is Shaping Teenagers. [ONLINE] Available at: http://understandingteenagers.com.au/blog/how-branding-is-shaping-teenagers/. [Accessed 24 April 2017].