Rihanna is one of the most successful female artists in the pop industry to date with her success currently building on 5 albums, over 11 million followers on Twitter and over 150 awards. Rihanna clearly represents a massive influence on varieties of audiences around the world. All her success led to her first perfume ‘Reb’l Fleur’ being released in February 2011 in the United States and August in the United Kingdom. The product was mostly marketed on social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube, which are considered as mainstream media due to technological determinism in the 21st Century. The majority of young people gain information and general updates through E-Media platforms and come to notice Rihanna’s new perfume therefore she took the opportunity to mass market her product through platforms where her target audience would notice it the most.
The advert ‘Reb’l Fleur’ reflects two personalities, two characters and two images in which the audience can interpret in different ways, and create an attachment to one of those sides, Reb’l or Fleur. This was the unique selling point in which Rihanna claimed ‘Are you a Reb’l or Fleur?’ The advert incorporates these two sides and begins with the ‘good’ image ‘Fleur’. According to Todorov’s narrative theory, the advert follows the pathway of equilibrium where Rihanna is surrounded by feathers creating an idea of freedom, a disequilibrium where she allows herself into having attachments with many men and a new equilibrium when she discovers her real identity and escaping to her reality.
Rihanna is in the centre of pink feathers, a stereotypical colour for females, in which she seems happy, calm and free with the use of slow movements and positive facial expressions which are represented through close up shots. The feathers are iconic because they represent an enigma code developed by the theorist Barthes for beauty and goodness in which Rihanna strives to be and currently is with her ongoing success. This alternative ideology of success in women is what teenage girls aspire to be like, hence taking greater admiration, being desensitised into the advert making them believe, buying this perfume will make you stand out from the crowd and be a success. Rihanna’s positive outlook represented by positive images generates these aspirations by her audience.
The variety of shots in this scene, from bird view shots to close ups of facial expressions allows the audience to witness different angles in which all are positive and calm. The non diegetic music is parallel to the imagery on screen allowing the audience to be captivated with 100% understanding of her success, and not allowing any other personalities or thoughts to arise in this scene. The two opposites, freedom vs. Controlled, good vs. Bad and positive vs. Negative is a continuous theme represented throughout the advert. This is initially shown through sunlight and snow as the scene carries on, representing an oxymoron image.
You can interpret this idea by contradicting it with the fact that Rihanna is wearing a light pink dress matching the feathers. This continuity in colours suggests that she is hiding her identity by blending in with her surroundings and being less independent in her actions. This could suggest that there is an ‘anchor’ to her success representing a second rebellious personality in which she is trying to break free. Further on in the advert we come to witness a male figure in a suit. Is he the anchor to her success? At the sight of the man, Rihanna runs out of the feathers, in a maze full of hedges as she approaches her opposite reflection of a ‘rebel’ where the quote ‘Bad feels so Good’ arises. The use of a maze suggests that Rihanna continuously has to make decisions in her career in order for her to achieve the success she has, which comes along with a variety of obstacles she has to face. This independence, drive and decision making processes are attributes in which women hope to achieve; subliminally this is generated through purchasing the perfume to give the buyer confidence. At the reflection, the music changes to continue into a more sinister and harsh sound making it parallel to the scene on screen.
Rihanna has now entered the rebellious side of the advert and the perfume. The camera follows her pathway with many shots of her facial expressions shown through many mirrors as she constantly watches her own reflection and the reflection of the male figure following her. The use of many mirrors connotes constant questioning in the identity she portrays in these scenes. Image and identity coincides with Lacan’s psychoanalysis theory where he suggests an individual develops a sense of their identity by being able to recognise their own reflection and understand how others perceive them. In this case, Rihanna look’s through the mirrors, develops a sense of herself by recognising her actions alongside the male figure. She then judges herself against that. Her expressions are shown to be worried, nervous and scared of the life she is now living and allowing men to follow her. In one particular shot, her hand reaches out to the camera which suggests she is reaching for freedom, wishing to escape this world. As the man gets to her, he covers her eyes followed by another two pairs of male hands. Close up shots of her body is shown, with sexual facial expressions, which suggests that this rebellious life she suggests is having casual sex with many men.
In this scene, you could interpret it within the Marxist theory because it claims that the bourgeoisie which is owned by men hides the realities from proletariat. This is shown when several men cover Rihanna’s eyes to hide the reality she is in which reflects the exploitation of women in which many feminists suggest.
She could be proposing that the second personality to her perfume unleashes your feminine desires with men, attracting their attention and allowing yourself to be controlled achieving the dominant ideologies of women and approving a patriarchal society. Using Laura Mulvey’s theory of ‘visual pleasure and narrative cinema’ the close ups of female body parts are implemented for a male gaze to attract a secondary audience to develop a discourse between men in society.
The music fades out as a heart beat comes in representing a sign of nervousness and anxiety as Rihanna’s heart beat increases. This stops the flow of music and the series of events. The music starts to re-enter in a rewinding sound which is parallel to the scenes rewinding back. The use of a backwards montage reflects that the rebellious personality she experienced is not to her liking and finds it ‘bad’ therefore trying to escape and enter the free successful life she lived which represents the personality ‘fleur’ of the perfume which she prefers. Referring back to Lacan’s theory, Rihanna has seen her perception, and willingly decided to modify it to satisfy her outside perceptions, which are the audience she appeals to. This makes the advert biased because instead of embracing both personalities, it allows the audience to understand that Rihanna belongs in the successful life she lives and prefers the ‘flowers’ of life. This makes the target audience feel they are more willing to buy they perfume due to this biased approach as they want to aspire to be the successful Rihanna.
The advert ends with Rihanna back in the circle of feathers embracing the idea of success and power she has, living a free life as a woman promoting an alternative ideology with the use of beauty industry influencing audiences to go out and by the perfume to achieve something by wearing the perfume.
Overall, the beauty industry, exaggerates their products into high value cinematography in order to entice the audience into believing that the product will make your life better and give women especially a better appearance. This relates to one of the uses and gratifications; personal identity which suggests that audiences creates part of their own identity by things they feel are attractive in the media, and in some cases this shapes people’s values, norms and fashion. Extending this idea that the media creates, the copycat theory can also be applied due to celebrities representing a high class, powerful figure in which is further exaggerated, audiences feel that by copying their actions, they will receive part of that success however, the media exaggerates and fanaticises these ideologies making seem reachable, when in factual fact they are merely impossible. Many adverts in the beauty industry create false hope, yet still get women desensitised into buying their products, similar to Rihanna’s perfume.
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