This Burberry ad features Kate Moss, who was their celebrity endorser for a period of time. The ad has a “classic” look to it, and Moss is surrounded by a bunch of good-looking and well-dressed men, showing off her Burberry handbook. Hegemonic ideals would suggest that buy purchasing this Burberry handbag, you would project the same air of confidence as Kate Moss, and therefore would have a flock of handsome men at your side as well.
When photos of Kate Moss doing cocaine surfaced in British tabloids, Burberry dropped her contract, so as not to be associated with that aspect. However, Rimmel, a British cosmetics company, opted to continue to use Moss as the face of their brand. Below is a pretty representative Rimmel ad featuring Kate Moss.
I found it interesting that where one brand would immediately cut all ties with Moss after this scandal, another would keep her on board. It brought me back to the hegemonic ideals present in each company’s advertisements. This Rimmel ad, like most, is designed to suggest that the products will make you cutting-edge and bold and daring. Conversely, the Burberry advertisements focus much more on clean-cut, classic style. Social context in which an advertisement is viewed contributes a lot to the meaning that viewers extract from it. Where Moss’s scandal could make Rimmel seem even more rebellious and potentially even boost sales, the same cultural context would creative negative associations for a different brand with a different message.
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