The racialized celebrity other in perfume advertisements
Despite significant scholarship on the semiotics and ideology of perfume advertising, its racialized nature is underexamined. This is surprising given perfume-ad characteristics that incentivize racialized representations, especially ads using celebrities, and racist constructions of smell and scent. Using critical advertising studies, sensory studies, and bell hooks' concept of the racialized Other, this article argues that perfume ads are markedly racialized. The racial semiotics of 10 print ads - five with BIPOC celebrities and five with White - are critiqued, with BIPOC celebrities essentialized as inherently exotic, wild, and primitively sexual, while White celebrities symbolize elegance, classic beauty, and uniqueness.
This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Communication, Culture & Critique following peer review. The version of record [The racialized celebrity other in perfume advertisements. Communication, Culture & Critique 16, 3 p141-157 (2023)] is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/ccc/tcad002.
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Work Title | The racialized celebrity other in perfume advertisements |
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License | In Copyright (Rights Reserved) |
Work Type | Article |
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Publication Date | February 9, 2023 |
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Deposited | January 23, 2024 |
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