Browsing by Author "Roux, Jacquilene"

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    How social media democratized beauty : South African influencers experiences of the transformation of cosmetics and work in the beauty industry
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03) Roux, Jacquilene; Dubbeld, Bernard; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Sociology & Social Anthropology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Over the last decade the beauty industry has undergone a ‘digital makeover’. Not only have companies selling beauty products adopted a digital language, but the way in which beauty products are being produced and consumed has also been transformed due to this mediatization. Additionally, social media platforms allow beauty related information such as how to use products and which products to purchase; as well as images of beauty to circulate more rapidly and more widely. Thus, this digital transformation has democratized beauty by way of making more information about cosmetics available to more consumers and by allowing them to actively take part in the conceptualisation of beauty through user-generated platforms. This has also created the opportunity for passionate individuals to navigate this overload of information on behalf of consumers as well as mediate the conversation between those selling and those purchasing beauty products, namely beauty influencers. Globalized interactive communication networks allow beauty influencers from around the world to establish careers around this activity and in South Africa’s beauty industry, dominated by global mega-brands, local beauty influencers have become a valuable tool for them to reach local consumers. South Africa’s beauty influencer market has been a space for many entrepreneurs to take control over their careers although they face many obstacles, both local and global. While social media enables connectivity with a global audience, the beauty industry in South Africa operates at a local level and therefore restricts local beauty influencers’ opportunities to go ‘viral’. This thesis investigates this digital transformation of the beauty industry as well as its limitations from the perspective of South Africa by interviewing different role players in the local beauty industry about their experiences and interpretation of this transformation and by conducting a virtual ethnography of media images in which beauty is performed.