Zoella rose to fame through her lifestyle blog and YouTube channel where she shares beauty, fashion, and lifestyle content. She has expanded her brand through collaboration videos, product lines, and a bestselling novel to become a multi-million pound business. However, some critics argue that Zoella promotes unrealistic standards of beauty and consumerism to her predominantly teenage female audience.

1. AS/Y1 MEDIA STUDIES
COMPONENT 2 SECTION C: ONLINE MEDIA
Zoella
www.zoella.co.uk
https://www.youtube.com/user/zoella280390
Case Study YT Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w7jyVHocTk&list=PLUPxDOG-YGRDVtj_jKKv6kBfca4oTbxyx

2. What do you already know about Zoella?
3 facts on a post it note below

3. Zoe Elizabeth Sugg (born 28 March 1990)
Grew up in Lacock,Wiltshire.
Currently lives in Brighton, East Sussex.
In a relationship with fellowYouTube star Alfie Deyes. ("Zalfie")
Sugg was working as an apprentice at an interior design company when she created
her blog, "Zoella", in February 2009.
 By the end of the year it had a thousand followers.
 As of September 2015 it had received over 540 million total visits.
The fashion, beauty and lifestyle blog expanded into a YouTube channel in 2009,
while Sugg was working for British clothing retailer New Look.
 Subscribers: 12+ million
 Total views: 1+ billion
[source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoella]

4. YOUTUBE SUPERSTAR
INTO MAINSTREAM
CULTURE
 Mainstream TV
appearances: Loose
Women, Comic Relief
GBBO
 Madame Tussauds wax
work (Zalfie)
 Band Aid 30 (1st non
musicians to ever feature)

5. What would you expect to find on a blog website?
Consider the use of
 Layout and design
 Verbal codes (written/spoken word: lexis, mode of address,
literary devices, etc)
 Visual Codes: images, graphics, typography
 Other content
 Individual pages and whole website structure

6. Visit zoella.co.uk and analyse the use of media language to create
meaning.
Consider the use of
 Layout and design
 Verbal codes (written/spoken word: lexis, mode of address,
literary devices, etc)
 Visual Codes: images, graphics, typography
 Other content
 Structure (narrative?)

7. WWW.ZOELLA.CO.UK
Above “the fold” (what you can see without scrolling down)
• Primary content – most important – seen first by audience.
• Header image and logo – brand identity
• Navigation bar/menu – post categories – indication of content from headings
• Rotating “carousel” of popular posts – images and headlines
• Search bar
• Social media menu

8. WWW.ZOELLA.CO.UK
Below “the fold” (what you can see after scrolling down)
• Secondary content – next most important – audience has already decided to
engage a little.
• Gallery of recent posts, illustrated with key images. Hyperlinked to take you to
individual post
• “House style” – in keeping with brand identity – CSS
• Menu remains at top for easy return.

9. Analysing website: posts
Look at the post https://www.zoella.co.uk/2017/12/everyday-festive-
glam-look-ad.html
Analyse the use of media language to create meaning.
Consider the use of
 Layout and design
 Verbal codes (written/spoken word: lexis, mode of address,
literary devices, etc)
 Visual Codes: images, graphics, typography
 Structure/Narrative
 Other content

10. Dominated by images (rather
than text).Visual rather than
verbal – superficial?
More accessible/less
challenging
Disclaimer for paid for
promotion – advertorial.
In body of text, when products
are mentioned their names are
hyperlinked to websites where
they can be bought online.
Call to action (imperative) –
encourages reader to ‘share’
Direct mode of address – extra
diegetic gaze (looking at
camera) + use of 2nd person (you,
your, etc)
Informal mode of address ”feel
a little bit fancy…just for the
fun of it”

11. Below the post are links to
further ‘featured” posts from
elsewhere on the site and then
comments from other users,
with the ability for the reader
to “join the discussion” (another
imperative call to action).
As well as interacting with
Zoella, this is an opportunity
for the audience to interact
with each other, forming their
own online community and
even promoting links to their
own blogs.

12. What would you expect to find in a vlog video?
Consider the use of
 Technical codes: camera, editing,
 Verbal codes: written/spoken word - lexis, mode of address,
literary devices, etc
 Visual Codes: "mise en scene" - setting, costume, props, NVC,
etc.
 Narrative: Barthes codes, characters, structure
 Other content
What different types (subgenres?) of blogs/vlogs can you think
of?

13. Direct mode of address – extra diegetic gaze to camera
Informal mode of address - colloquialisms – “I’m so bummed” – ‘YoutubeVoice’
Camera: Single, static “locked off” camera – no movement = Home made,“alone”.
Mid shot/MCU, comfortably personal proximity. Positioned centrally with eyes on
framed on top 3rd.
Editing – “jump cuts” – ellipsis “…” to make snappier, cut out unnecessary detail. But
cuts are not hidden/disguised – part of home made honesty – even including rain noise
(rather than doing at another time) = ordinary, girl-next-door, just-like-you-ness
Mise en scene
• Location – at home (conservatory referred to in opening) – sometimes in bedroom
• Heavily make up = she is a fashion/make up role model so this is expected.
• Costume – modest (not revealing) - brightly coloured stripes – fun – suitable for
younger audience.

14. Narrative. Simple:“Hello everyone”, - welcoming, brief intro of content (establishes
tone, creates enigma codes).
Then lists products she has used and liked in last month, with reasons, descriptions
and experiences. Holds them all up to be seen in screen when discussed.
Finishes with “ I hope you enjoyed/thanks – please like/subscribe (call to action) and
see you next time. Some videos also have an “endcard”

15. Below the video are links to her other
blogs/channels/social media and
places where the featured products
can be bought online. Items she
receives an income for are marked
with an asterisk * to declare her
vested interest.

16. The illusion of face to face conversation.
“…An illusionary experience,such that media audiences interact
with personas (e.g., talk show host,celebrities,characters) as if they
are engaged in a reciprocal relationship with them,and feel as
though a mediated other is talking directly to them…”

17. …PSI can be developed to the point where media audiences begin
to view the mediated others as "real friends".Feelings of PSI are
nurtured through carefully constructed mechanisms,such as verbal
and nonverbal interaction cues…”
“Relationship” is one-sided, non-dialectical and
controlled by performer/celebrity/star.

18. How is media language is used to construct this illusion in
Zoella’s vlogs?
Consider
 Camera
 Mise en scene
 Verbal codes

19. What is the purpose/effect of this upon the audience?

20.  Second “wave” of development of Internet when
audiences/users began to be able to create and contribute to
content, rather than just consume it.
 Interaction, participation, connection, collaboration
 Content creators
 "Democratising the media"

21. Views and Subscribers from Zoella's Collaboration Videos, Jan 2014 -
August 2014

22. https://www.gleamfutures.com/
Who are…?
Look at the other clients on their roster. Do they have
similarities?
What does the work of Gleam, reveal about the
perceived ‘authenticity’ of vloggers?

24. When two different entities work together and become more
powerful/successful combined than the sum of their parts. 1+1=>2

25. In media industries, this term is used to describe the cross promotion of
products.
For instance, the James Bond Film “Skyfall” was accompanied by a theme
song by Adele and a video game, as well as new technology releases by
SONY (phone/TV) and various product placements (Heineken, etc).
These each helped advertise each other and promote sales across all
platforms.

26. As well as her blog and YouTube channels, what other products does
Zoella have?

27. As well as her blog and YouTube channels, what other products does
Zoella have?

28. Google Search Traffic for 'Zoella' Keywords, Jan 2014 - August
2014
Zoella has embraced more "off-platform", traditional forms of media, notably
making history in the UK by being the firstYouTube cover girl for Company
magazine. She's also appeared on popular UK TV Shows such as This Morning
and LooseWomen, as well as guesting on Dan and Phil's Radio 1 show.
Being promoted on shows that appeal to her key demographic ensures she
reaches an audience beyond the platform who are driven to view and
subscribe to her channel.

29. Published debut Novel Girl Online 25
Nov 2014
• The book was the fastest selling book of
2014 and it broke the record for highest
first-week sales for a debut author since
records began.
• The book was in the amazon.co.uk "Top
100 Best Seller" list for 67 days prior to
release, reaching third position, based on
pre-sales alone…
• Sugg went on a book signing tour in the
UK to promote the release of the
novel.The sessions were held at secret
locations and ticketed for health and
safety concerns, due to the exceptional
demand.
• The UK and US covers feature different
images provided by Sugg's fans, selected
via a competition hosted on Instagram.
• Two sequels, Girl Online: On tour (2015)
and Girl Online, Going Solo (2016) have
followed.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_Onlin
e

30. https://www.zoella.co.uk/2014/07/girl-online-behind-
scenes.html

31. Explain the strategies that producers of vlogs and blogs use to attract
their target audiences. Refer to Zoella in your response [20]
Guidance:
In your answer, refer to the following
• Audience appeal
• Authenticity
• Collaboration
• Diversification
• Interactivity
• Synergy
Use specific, detailed, examples to support your points.

32. Fake – fan fiction – audience
interaction/user generated content.
Video retweeted by Zoella herself.

33. Who do you think are the main audience?
Consider
 Demographics: age/gender/ethnicity/location, etc
 Psychographics:Values, attitudes, lifestyle,Young & Rubican's
Cross Cultural Consumer Categorisation (4Cs)
 How is the media product constructed to target this audience?

34. Who do you think are the main audience?
 Teenage girls - 13-17 (claimed by Zoella, probably younger but 13 is
YouTube minimum sign up age).
 Middle class (ABC1) – able to afford products marketed.
 4Cs – mainstreamer, aspirer

35. How is the text constructed to appeal to them?
 Informal mode of address, friendly. Bright colours, brightly lit.
Simple, colloquial language
 Subject matter stereotypically of interest/relatable:
relationships, fashion, make up beauty, etc.
 Brand identity: honest and relatable – “best friend/average girl
next door/supportive big sister”

36. Audience Response: Reception Theory
Recap: Reception theory focuses on the role of the audience in the
interpretation of the text, rather than the text itself.
It suggests that audiences play an active role in reading texts.
Each person has the ability to interpret the same text differently (polysemy)
and that a text by itself – i.e. without a reader – has no specific meaning.
Dominant hegemonic reading: The reader accepts the preferred reading intended by
the author of the text. Sharing their values or views.
Negotiated: The reader accepts SOME of the intended values of the author but may
reject or modify other elements to reflect their own interest.
Oppositional: The reader is AWARE of the intended, preferred meaning, but rejects it
entirely

37. Audience Response: Reception Theory
How can you apply these ideas to Zoella?
Dominant hegemonic reading: The reader accepts the preferred reading intended by
the author of the text. Sharing their values or views.

38. Success
 Subscribers: 12+ million
 Total views: 1+ billion
 User comments

40. Audience Response: Reception Theory
How can you apply these ideas to Zoella?
Negotiated: The reader accepts SOME of the intended values of the author but may
reject or modify other elements to reflect their own interest.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/
dec/05/love-zoella-sugg-vapid-online-teenagers-
private-cultural-spaces

41. Audience Response: Reception Theory
How can you apply these ideas to Zoella?
Oppositional: The reader is AWARE of the intended, preferred meaning, but rejects it
entirely

42. “At the 2014 Teen Choice awards,….she told a reporter that if she could give her
teenage followers one piece of advice,it would be to fret less about their
appearance.“When you’re younger you worry about so many things that you don’t
need to worry about like image,appearance,” she coos to the camera,without an
ounce of irony in her singsong voice,as though unaware that she’s forged an entire
career by prattling on to young girls about how to look good….
…too much of her inane chatter reinforces the age-old premise that women must
be beautiful if they are to lead happy lives…”
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/sure-teenage-girls-need-
role-models-but-not-of-the-zoella-kind-9809136.html

43. ‘“I would go to bed with knots in my stomach,” says Lucia, who has had anxiety since
she was a child. As a teenager, she suffered panic attacks and breathlessness due to
other stresses, but says her obsession with buying products recommended by
YouTubers left with her with stomach aches and unable to sleep…
“There are four different sets of consequences that research shows comes with
buying into the message of consumer culture that happiness depends on your
possessions,” Kasser says. Firstly, hundreds of studies have shown materialism has a
negative effect on wellbeing. ..
“When people prioritise materialistic values, the less happy they are, the more
depressed they are, the more anxious they are, the lower their self-esteem, the
lower their life satisfaction, the more likely they are to smoke cigarettes and drink
alcohol,” Kasser says.“While it’s not a gigantic effect it is consistent, and it’s
consistently negative.”
Secondly and thirdly, materialistic values crowd out pro-social values, such as
empathy, and also mean people act less ecologically and care less about the
environment. Finally, some studies have shown that materialistic children have a
poorer academic performance…’
https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/internet/2018/02/knots-my-stomach-how-youtube-
consumerism-affects-children-and-teens

45.  "Vapid” (lifeless,flavorless,spiritless,unanimated,tiresome,
prosaic,commonplace or dull; matter-of-fact or unimaginative)
 Consumerism – materialistic – shallow, superficial
 Deteriorating literacy rates (moral panic– “think of the
children!”)
 Offensive tweets from past
 £50 Xmas calendar for Boots
 Ghost-writer for first book (– dishonest?)
 Driving while filming vlog
 Hypocrisy: Body positivity vs beauty vlog business
Consider significance of Zoella’s
behaviour and values as a ‘role
model’ to young teen girls

46.  David Gauntlett Representation & Identity
 Stuart Hall: Representation (codes & stereotypes)
 Stuart Hall: Audience – reception theory
 George Gerbner: Audience – cultivation theory

47. Representation: The production of meaning through media
Language (Hall)
 Consider how messages and values (ideologies) about the
world are encoded in the media text.
 Consider how Zoella represents herself – self representation.
 Consider how messages and values (ideologies) about
groups of people are encoded in the media text e.g. gender.
Task: Watch the vlog and make notes ready for discussion with
class.

48. Representation: The production of meaning through media
Language (Hall)
 What messages and values (ideologies) about the world are
encoded in the media text?
 What media language is used to construct these
representations?

49. Representation: The production of meaning through media
Language (Hall)
 How is Zoella represented in the media text?
 What media language is used to construct these
representations?

50. Representation: The production of meaning through media
Language (Hall)
 What messages and values (ideologies) about groups of
people are encoded in the media text? e.g. gender.
 What media language is used to construct these
representations?

52. “Magazines financed by the beauty industry teach little girls that the need
make-up and teach them how to use it,so establishing their lifelong reliance
on beauty products.Not content with showing pre-teens how to use
foundations,powders,concealers,blushers,eye-shjadows,eye-liners,lip
liners,lipstick and lip gloss,the magazines identify problems of dryness,
flakiness,blackheads,shininess,dullness,blemishes,puffiness,oiliness,spots,
greasiness,that little girls are meant to treat with moisturisers,fresheners,
masks,packs,washes,lotions,cleansers,toners,scrubs [and] astringents”
TheWholeWoman, Germaine Greer, 1999. p.28
Greer was writing about magazines in 1999. Do her comments relate to vlogs
today?
Today, makeup tutorials/demonstrations on beauty bloggers’s channels are
also often financed through sponsorship and advertising deals.
This is one critical viewpoint. How might these types vlogs be viewed more
positively?

53. Gauntlett - Theories of Identity
The media provide us with ‘tools’ or resources that we use to construct our
identities
In the past the media tended to convey singular, straightforward messages
about ideal types of males & female identities.The media today offer
audiences a more diverse range of stars, icons and characters from whom
we may pick and mix different ideas
• Write a short paragraph on each of these ideas, linking it to the Zoella
blog case study. Refer to specific examples where possible to support
your points.

54. Gauntlett - Theories of Identity
The media provide us with ‘tools’ or resources that we use to construct our
identities.
Zoella’s blog and vlogs provide personal stories and advice on day-to-day
matters for her audience on matters such as relationships,beauty and make-
up tutorials etc.As such,her “supportive big sister” persona acts as a role
model for her (mostly younger) audience.
For instance,in her February Favourites vlog, Zoella names and describes a
range of products she has liked in recent weeks,presumably as
recommendations for her audience.It is expected that her audience will want
to imitate her choices/behaviours as links to purchase their own are placed
below the video.
Criticisms of Zoella usually centre around her position as a role model and
whether the messages and values she reinforces (materialism,celebrity
worship,gender stereotypes,etc) have a negative impact upon her young and
potentially easily influenced/exploited audience.

55. Gauntlett - Theories of Identity
In the past the media tended to convey singular, straightforward messages
about ideal types of males & female identities.The media today offer
audiences a more diverse range of stars, icons and characters from whom we
may pick and mix different ideas.
Today,the Internet provides a much more diverse range of sources of information and
inspiration for audiences to use to pick and choose from to construct their identities.
Lower costs of production and distribution as well as a greater number of outlets mean
than many more media products are available to choose from.In addition,Web 2.0 has
allowed ordinary members of the public to become content creators and share their own
user-generated content. Zoe Sugg started her blog from her bedroom while working as
an apprentice.
However, although the Internet more broadly offers man different and diverse voices,much
of Zoella’s success can be attributed to her uncomplicated videos that do not challenge
mainstream values or dominant ideologies and offer the same “straightforward”
messages about ideal selves as found in mainstream, traditional media.

56. Stuart Hall is credited with the following ideas about Representation:
• Representation is the production of meaning through language, with
language defined in its broadest sense as a system of signs. The
relationship between concepts and signs is governed by codes
• Stereotyping, as a form of representation, reduces people to a few
simple characteristics or traits. Stereotyping tends to occur where
there are inequalities of power, as subordinate or excluded groups are
constructed as different or ‘other’ (e.g. through ethnocentrism)
• Write a short paragraph on each of these ideas, linking it to the
Zoella blog case study. Refer to specific examples where possible to
support your points.

57. e.g. Zoella’s blog website home page uses a range media
language to communicate its intended meaning to its audience.
For example, the header image has the name “Zoella” written in
a handwriting-style font.This choice of typography connotes an
informal, personal atmosphere.

58. George Gerbner’s Cultivation Theory
 Considers effects of long term exposure rather than immediate
effect of media on audience
 Suggests audience views are shaped or cultivated by patterns of
representation, rather than by single products in isolation.
What “patterns of representation” might audiences of Zoella’s
blog be exposed to over a long term and how might it shape their
view?

59. ‘“I would go to bed with knots in my stomach,” says Lucia, who has had anxiety since
she was a child. As a teenager, she suffered panic attacks and breathlessness due to
other stresses, but says her obsession with buying products recommended by
YouTubers left with her with stomach aches and unable to sleep…
“There are four different sets of consequences that research shows comes with
buying into the message of consumer culture that happiness depends on your
possessions,” Kasser says. Firstly, hundreds of studies have shown materialism has a
negative effect on wellbeing. ..
“When people prioritise materialistic values, the less happy they are, the more
depressed they are, the more anxious they are, the lower their self-esteem, the
lower their life satisfaction, the more likely they are to smoke cigarettes and drink
alcohol,” Kasser says.“While it’s not a gigantic effect it is consistent, and it’s
consistently negative.”
Secondly and thirdly, materialistic values crowd out pro-social values, such as
empathy, and also mean people act less ecologically and care less about the
environment. Finally, some studies have shown that materialistic children have a
poorer academic performance…’
https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/internet/2018/02/knots-my-
stomach-how-youtube-consumerism-affects-children-and-teens

60. SAMS 1
Explain the strategies that producers of blogs and vlogs use to attract their
target audiences. Refer to Zoella in your response.
[20]
SAMS2
(a) Briefly explain Stuart Hall’s idea of a preferred meaning or reading. [5]
(b) How far does the combination of elements of media language create
meaning in Zoella? Explore the home page and at least two other pages/links
in your response.[15]