Journal articles on the topic 'Beauty vlogger'

Objective – This study aims to propose a conceptual model of how the influence of beauty vlogger content affects purchase intentions on local brand beauty products in Indonesia with brand image as a mediating variable. Methodology/Technique – Purposive sampling is used with 100 respondents distributed online via Google forms. A path analysis technique is used. Findings – The study findings show that beauty vlogger content influence brand image but does not influence the purchase intentions on local brand beauty products in Indonesia. Brand image is a mediating variable between beauty vlogger content and purchase intentions on local brand beauty products in Indonesia. Novelty – The development of beauty vloggers in Indonesia is growing rapidly, but the study of beauty vlogger content is still scarce and only examines the effect of vloggers on purchase intentions, not on the brand image. Type of Paper: Empirical. Keywords: Vlogger; Beauty Vlogger Content; Purchase Intention; Local Brands in Indonesia. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Nur, A. 2019. The Influence of Beauty Vlogger’s Content on the Purchase Intentions of Local Brands in Indonesia, J. Mgt. Mkt. Review 4(4) 254 – 259 https://doi.org/10.35609/jmmr.2019.4.4(4) JEL Classification: M15, M31, M37.

The purpose of this study was to explain the effect of the YouTube beauty vlogger and the perception of consumer trust on purchase intention. This research was conducted on prospective consumers of Maybelline cosmetics in Denpasar City. This study drew a sample of 107 respondents, using nonprobability sampling method, particularly purposive sampling. Data were collected from online questionnaires. Path Analysis and Sobel Test were used as data analysis techniques. This study found the YouTube beauty vlogger results and the perception of consumer confidence had a significant positive effect on purchase intention. In addition, YouTube beauty vloggers can partially influence purchase intentions through the perception of consumer trust as a mediating variable. Video content from YouTube beauty vloggers is needed to increase audience confidence in the product being reviewed. The perception of consumer confidence is a strong reference for increasing consumer purchase intentions of a product, so it is recommended that YouTube beauty vlogger and cosmetic company Maybelline each improve the quality of the video and the quality of the product being marketed.
 Keywords: YouTube beauty vlogger, consumer confidence perception, purchase intention.

In this era, customers are using social media, Youtube. They use beauty vlogger’s content tomake it easy for cosmetic users to get references based on reviews given by beauty vloggers. The development of cosmetics such as examples of Focallure Products. Focallure was updated by one of the vlogger's beauties, Tasya Farasya. This research was made to find out the perceptions created by Focallure cosmetics users on beauty vlogger on Tasya Farasya's Youtube. Theories used in this research are communication theory, social media theory and perception theories. This study uses qualitative considerations with descriptive characteristics. The results of the study show the fact of Focallure cosmetics users on the YouTube show Tasya Farasya is Tasya Farasya is a beauty vlogger that helps explain Focallure products by detailed and honest reviews in providing reviews. There are also internal and external factors that support the creation of this perception. Internal factors that support such as; Tasya Farasya has a beautiful face, has a special desire in cosmetology, good emotions when watching, and remembers that Tasya Farasya was once MUA. External factors such as; Tasya Farasya has a close relationship with Focallure, the lighting on the show is bright, the use of the background on the show is elegant and the number of subscribers provided by Tasya Farasya.Di era sekarang ini, para konsumen memanfaatkan media sosial yaitu Youtube. Mereka memanfaatkan konten beauty vlogger untuk memudahkan kalangan pengguna kosmetik untuk mendapatkan referensi berdasarkan ulasan yang diberikan oleh beauty vlogger. Perkembangan kosmetik seperti Produk Focallure. Produk Focallure diulas oleh salah satubeauty vlogger yaitu Tasya Farasya. Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk mengetahui persepsi yang tercipta dari pengguna kosmetik Focallure pada tayangan Youtube beauty vloggerTasya Farasya. Adapun teori yang digunakan pada penelitian ini adalah teori komunikasi, media sosial dan persepsi. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif dengan metode deskriptif. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa persepsi dari pengguna kosmetik Focallure pada tayangan Youtube Tasya Farasya adalah Tasya Farasya merupakan beauty vloggeryang informatif dalam menjelaskan produk Focallure secara lengkap dan jujur dalam memberikan ulasan. Terdapat juga faktor internal dan eksternal yang mendukung terciptanya persepsi tersebut. Faktor internal yang mendukung seperti; Tasya Farasya dipandang paras yang cantik, memiliki kesamaan minat di bidang makeup, emosi yang baik pada saat menonton, dan mengingat bahwa Tasya Farasya pernah menjadi MUA. Faktor eksternal seperti; Tasya Farasya memiliki hubungan yang erat dengan Focallure, lighting pada tayangan tersebut terang, penggunaan background pada tayangan tersebut yang elegan dan jumlah subscriber yang dimiliki oleh Tasya Farasya.

Di Indonesia, jumlah beauty vlogger terus mengalami peningkatan yang pesat semenjak 2015. Bahkan, sebagian besar dari mereka menjadikan kegiatan beauty vlogging sebagai pekerjaan tetap. Kemunculan dan perkembangan profesi ini juga menjadi sebuah bukti dari perkembangan teknologi informasi dan komunikasi. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui makna yang terbentuk dalam diri para pegiat beauty vlogger yang diarahkan melalui teori fenomenologi Schutz. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif dengan jenis studi fenomenologi. Teknik pengumpulan data yang digunakan wawancara mendalam, observasi partisipatif, dan studi kepustakaan. Sementara teknik validitas data menggunakan triangulasi sumber. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa beauty vlogger memaknai profesi mereka menjadi tiga makna, yaitu upaya aktualisasi diri, sebagai mata pencaharian, dan sebagai panutan.Kata Kunci: Makna, profesi, beauty vlogger, pengalaman komunikasi In Indonesia, the number of beauty vloggers continues to increase rapidly since 2015. In fact, most of them make beauty vlogging activities as a permanent job. The emergence and development of this profession is also a proof of the development of information and communication technology. This study aims to determine the meaning that formed in the beauty vlogger through Schutz's phenomenological approach. This study uses a qualitative approach with phenomenology as the type of study. Data collection techniques used in-depth interviews, participatory observation, and literature studies. While the data validity technique uses source triangulation. The results of this study showed that the beauty vlogger interpreted their profession into three meanings: self-actualization efforts, livelihood, and role models.Keywords: Meaning, profession, beauty vlogger,communication experiences

Increasing internet users is a huge market potential for business people to expand market share and to increase sales. This is because, the internet is one effective marketing communication tool for business people to increase sales of their products. The most appropriate means is through advertising promotion media. With Instagram companies can offer their products through beauty vloggers and endorsements to increase the interest of cosmetic products offered. This study aims to determine the effect of Endorsement in Beauty Vlogger on Interest in Buying Cosmetic Followers Instagram @ Storyofsand, using marketing communication theory with the conceptual foundation of beauty vlogger endorsement, buying interest. This study uses quantitative survey methods, this study uses 100 samples of @storyofsand followers by using data analysis of validity test, reliability test, simple regression analysis test, and Hypothesis Test through the application of SPSS 25.0 software. The results showed Ha was accepted, which means that there was a positive and significant influence of Endorsement in Beauty Vlogger on Interest in Purchasing Cosmetic Followers Instagram @ Storyofsand and had an R square determination of 67.5%, the rest were influenced by other factors outside the study.Peningkatan pengguna internet merupakan potensi pasar yang besar bagi para pelaku bisnis untuk memperluas pangsa pasar serta guna meningkatkan penjualan. Hal ini dikarenakan, internet merupakan salah satu sarana komunikasi pemasaran yang efektif bagi para pelaku bisnis untuk meningkatkan penjualan produknya. Sarana yang paling tepat adalah melalui media promosi iklan. Dengan instagram, perusahaan dapat menawarkan produknya melalui beauty vlogger dan endorsement guna meningkatkan minat produk kosmetik yang ditawarkan. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh endorsement oleh beauty vlogger terhadap minat beli kosmetik follower Instagram @Storyofsand. Teori yang digunakan adalah komunikasi pemasaran dengan landasan konseptual beauty vlogger endorsement dan minat beli. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kuantitatif dengan metode survei, penelitian ini menggunakan 100 sampel followers @storyofsand dengan menggunakan analisis data uji validitas, uji reliabilitas, uji analisis regresi sederhana, dan Uji Hipotesis melalui apikasi software SPSS 25.0. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan Ha diterima yang artinya terdapat pengaruh positif dan signifikan Endorsement dalam Beauty Vlogger terhadap Minat Beli Kosmetik Follower Instagram @Storyofsand serta memiliki pengaruh determinasi R square sebesar 67,5 % yang sisanya dipengaruhi faktor lain diluar penelitian.

Beauty vlogger merupakan sebutan untuk seseorang yang membagikan konten kecantikan di media sosial seperti Instagram dalam bentuk video maupun foto. Pada perkembangannya kini fenomena beauty vlogger tak lagi dilakukan oleh perempuan saja, tetapi laki-laki juga sudah mulai membagikan konten kecantikannya di media sosial Instagram. Adapun pada saat pengunggahan konten dilakukan, banyak yang memberikan respon dari pengikut maupun pengguna lainnya. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pembentukkan konsep diri seorang beauty vlogger laki-laki di media sosial Instagram, sehingga teori yang digunakan adalah teori konsep diri. Metode yang digunakan adalah metode fenomenologi dengan pendekatan kualitatif deskriptif. Adapun metode pengumpulan data yang menggunakan wawancara mendalam dengan beberapa beauty vlogger laki-laki, observasi tanpa partisipasi langsung dan data online. Kesimpulan dalam penelitian ini adalah faktor citra orang lain yaitu, dukungan dari orangtua, teman-teman, serta para pengikutnya di Instagram. Selanjutnya dalam faktor perbandingan sosial, beauty vlogger laki-laki melihat kelemahan dan kelebihannya melalui perbandingan yang mereka lakukan dengan kompetitornya. Selain itu, dalam faktor ajaran budaya, ada ajaran agama atau petuah-petuah yang dianut oleh orang tuanya dan diturunkan kepada para beauty vlogger lak-laki Kemudian faktor yang terakhir, yaitu faktor evaluasi diri, beauty vlogger laki-laki melihat bahwa makeup ini merupakan hal yang positif dan sesuai dengan apa yang mereka yakini.

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk meneliti pengaruh citra, kredibilitas dan kemampuan komunikasi beauty vlogger Tasya Farasya terhadap keputusan pembelian produk make-up Maybelline. Variabel independen dalam penelitian ini adalah citra, kredibilitas dan kemampuan komunikasi serta keputusan pembelian sebagai variable dependen. Jenis penelitian ini adalah deskriptif kuantitatif. Data penelitian dikumpulkan ini menggunakan metode non probability sampling dan teknik purposive sampling. Populasi dalam penelitian ini adalah semua masyarakat dari umur >16 tahun sampai <30tahun yang menonton video review produk Make-up Maybelline di media platform youtube Tasya Farasya dengan jumlah 100 responden. Penelitian menggunakan alat uji SPSS for windows 16 untuk uji validitas, realibilitas, hipotesis (analisis regresi linier ganda),Uji T, uji F, Koefisien korelasi, dan koefisien determinasi. Hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa: 1) Citra beauty vlogger berpengaruh terhadap keputusan pembelian produk ­make-up Maybelline, 2) Kredibilitas beauty vlogger paling berpengaruh terhadap keputusan ­make-up Maybelline, 3) kemampuan komunikasi beauty vlogger berpengaruh terhadap keputusan pembelian produk make-up Maybelline

Beauty Vlog is one content that is being watched by many Indonesian women on the YouTube site. From year to year the number of Beauty Vloggers from Indonesia is increasing, even giving birth to a community called Indo Beauty Vlogger with viewers who have reached 300 million views. This study aims to determine how the effect of the Indo Beauty Vlogger show on imitation behavior and how big the effect is among KPI female students of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta. This study uses a positivistic or classical paradigm with a quantitative approach. The method used is a survey method. The sampling technique used in this study was purposive sampling with 172 respondents. The theory used is Albert Bandura's Social Learning Theory. The results of this study are Ha accepted, which means that cognitive, affective, and behavioral effects can influence imitation behavior among female students. Partially, cognitive, affective, and behavioral effects have a significant influence on student imitation behavior. Then by looking at the R Square value of 0.606 which means that cognitive effects, affective effects, and behavioral effects affect the imitation behavior of female students by 60%. Meanwhile, the remaining 40% is influenced by other variables outside the model used in this study.

This study aims to determine the effect of physical attractiveness, attitude homophily, social attractiveness, credibility, and parasocial interaction on cosmetics purchase intention based on the TasyaFarasya review. TasyaFarasya is one of the beauty vloggers on YouTube and Instagram. This study uses a quantitative approach. The sampling technique used is non-probability sampling which is judgmental sampling. In this study, the respondents are women; they knew TasyaFarasya as a beauty vlogger; the age is around 17-35 years and watched content from TasyaFarasya. The number of samples is 200 respondents. The data was processed using PLS-SEM with SmartPLS software version 3.3.3. The findings of this study indicate that physical attractiveness, homophily attitudes have a significant effect on credibility. While physical attractiveness and social attractiveness significantly affect parasocial interactions, homophily attitudes do not affect parasocial interactions. Credibility does not affect purchase intention, but parasocial interaction has a significant effect on purchase intention. Further research can add information and building motive variables. It is also interesting to see further how the interaction between vlogger viewers.

Pesatnya perkembangan teknologi komunikasi dan informasi menyebatkan terjadinya value migration dari penggunaan surat sebagai sarana telekomunikasi fisik ke telekomunikasi digital. Kemunculan beauty vlogger akan memberikan pengaruh pada industri kecantikan, baik untuk perusahaan penghasil produk kecantikan, beauty vlogger itu sendiri, dan mempengaruhi minat beli konsumen. Kosmetik merek lokal masih menjadi raja dinegeri sendiri. Peneliti merumuskan masalah sebagai berikut : 1) Apakah beauty vlogger dapat mempengaruhi terhadap minat beli produk kosmetik wardah? 2) Apakah citra merek dapat mempengaruhi terhadap minat beli produk kosmetik wardah? 3) Apakah label halal dapat mempengaruhi terhadap minat beli produk kosmetik wardah?.
 Pendekatan penelitian yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah analisis deskriptif dengan menggunakan data kuesioner. Teknik sampling yang digunakan adalah probability sampling dengan metode purposive sampling. Analisis statistik yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah uji asumsi klasik, analisis regresi, koefisien determinasi, pengujian hipotesis dengan menggunakan uji t. Banyaknya populasi penelitian adalah mahasiswi FEBIS Universitas Pelita bangsa angkatan tahun 2016 sebanyak 788 orang, sampel yang digunakan sebesar 89 orang.
 Hasil pengujian menggunakan uji t sebagai berikut: Beauty Vlogger berpengaruh secara signifikan terhadap Minat Beli dengan nilai thitung>ttabel (2,134>1,662). Citra Merek berpengaruh secara signifikan terhadap Minat Beli dengan nilai nilai thitung>ttabel (2,906>1,622). Lokasi berpengaruh secara signifikan terhadap Minat Beli dengan nilai nilai thitung>ttabel (2,159>1,622). Untuk meningkatkan minat beli produk kosmetik wardah adalah dengan bergerak lebih cepat ke arah komunikasi digital (youtube) yang direview oleh beauty vlogger, citra merek yang baik dan diyakini kekhalalannya secara aman.

This study aims to determine the effect of Celebrity Endorse, Beauty Vlogger, Word Of Mouth and Brand Image on Purchase Intention for Emina Cosmetics products. This research is a quantitative research. The object of this research is the people of Yogyakarta City. The population of this study was 140 respondents. This research data obtained from individuals, by filling out a questionnaire. To find out the results of this study, researchers used validity tests, reliability tests, classical assumption tests, and multiple regression analysis and hypothesis testing.
 The results of data analysis with a significance of 0.05 show that the variables Celebrity Endorse and Beauty Vlogger have no significant effect on Purchase Intention, while the Word of Mouth and Brand Image variables have a significant effect on Purchase Intention.
 
 Keywords: Celebrity Endorse, Beauty Vlogger, Word of Mouth, Brand Image

This study aims to analyze the influence and significance of YouTube beauty vlogger review, self congruity and price perception to impulse buying as well as their impact on the repurchase intention of young girls using Emina cosmetics in Surabaya. This research was using a quantitative method. The research data are primary data obtained from a sample of 100 young girls of Emina cosmetics users in Surabaya as the respondents. Data collected from online questionnaires and then analyzed using Partial Least Square (PLS) which processed by SmartPLS 3 version 3.6.8 software. The result of this research indicated that YouTube beauty vlogger review did not have a significant impact on impulse buying and repurchase intention. While the self-congruity and price perception significantly affected impulse buying and repurchase intention. Therefore, Emina should be focusing to strengthen its brand identity and maintain the affordability of their product rather than collaborating with beauty vlogger as their promotion strategy.

This study aims to analyze the influence and significance of YouTube beauty vlogger review, self congruity and price perception to impulse buying as well as their impact on the repurchase intention of young girls using Emina cosmetics in Surabaya. This research was using a quantitative method. The research data are primary data obtained from a sample of 100 young girls of Emina cosmetics users in Surabaya as the respondents. Data collected from online questionnaires and then analyzed using Partial Least Square (PLS) which processed by SmartPLS 3 version 3.6.8 software. The result of this research indicated that YouTube beauty vlogger review did not have a significant impact on impulse buying and repurchase intention. While the self-congruity and price perception significantly affected impulse buying and repurchase intention. Therefore, Emina should be focusing to strengthen its brand identity and maintain the affordability of their product rather than collaborating with beauty vlogger as their promotion strategy.

In the case of the development of media massa now is a supporter of the needs in community activities. In the era of globalization, developing technology can make it easier for people to get information practically and effectively by following the times. YouTube is one example of new media that is currently quite popular. This study aims to determine Fatya Biya's cyber beauty vlogger communication in supporting Wardah's brand image. Theories used in this research are cyber communication theory, new media theory and brand image theory. This research was conducted using descriptive qualitative methods. Data collection methods from this research are interviews, document studies and online data. Interviews were conducted with 1 key informant and 3 informants consisting of one beauty vlogger namely Fatya Biya and three Fatya Biya subribers who watched the Wardya one brand makeup video tutorial on YouTube. The results of this study explain the cyber communication done by beauty vlogger Fatya Biya in supporting Wardah's brand image on YouTube, which is that he uses YouTube as a means to communicate about Wardah products in a video titled Wardah one brand makeup tutorial in supporting Wardah's image, which is halal and economical.Pada hal perkembangan media massa saat ini merupakan sebuah pendukung kebutuhan dalam aktivitas masyarakat. Dalam era globalisasi, teknologi yang berkembang dapat memudahkan masyarakat untuk mendapatkan informasi secara praktis dan efektif dengan mengikuti perkembangan zaman. YouTube adalah salah satu contoh dari new media yang saat ini cukup digemari. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui komunikasi cyber beauty vlogger Fatya Biya dalam mendukung citra merek Wardah. Teori yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah teori komunikasi cyber, teori new media dan teori citra. Penelitian ini dilakukan menggunakan metode kualitatif secara deskriptif. Metode pengumpulan data dari penelitian ini adalah wawancara, studi dokumen dan data online. Wawancara dilakukan kepada 1 key informan dan 3 informan yang terdiri dari satu beauty vlogger yaitu Fatya Biya dan tiga subribers Fatya Biya yang menonton video Wardah one brand makeup tutorial Fatya di YouTube. Hasil dari penelitian ini menjelaskan komunikasi cyber yang dilakukan oleh beauty vlogger Fatya Biya dalam mendukung citra merek Wardah di YouTube yaitu ia menggunakan YouTube sebagai sarana untuk mengkomunikasikan mengenai produk Wardah dalam video yang berjudul Wardah one brand makeup tutorial dalam mendukung citra Wardah yaitu halal dan ekonomis.

Social media are web-based technology and social platform that involve social, personal and technological factors, which have triggered the development and evolution of website-based communities. Moreover, relevant web-based applications have also become the mainstream media for value creation and information exchange. The proliferation, convenience, and immediacy of social media have attracted many enterprises to adopt social media as a marketing tool. Among them, Electronic Word-of-Mouth (E-WoM), used mostly by vloggers (video bloggers), enables its users to review products and express their opinions on social media. Therefore, E-WoM has gradually become an important source of information for consumers, which influences their purchasing decisions. YouTube, a video sharing platform affiliated with Google, is a popular social media with tons of users. One of its most appealing and popular communities is Beauty Blogger, where beauty vloggers create and upload videos about beauty products. This study explored the impact of YouTube beauty vlogger on the attitude of Indonesian women towards locally made cosmetics and their willingness to purchase them. Based on the research results, relevant conclusions and recommendations were proposed which can be used as a reference for future research and practical applications.

enelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis dan menguji pengaruh dari Reference Group (Beauty Vlogger), Lifestyle dan Brand Image terhadap Keputusan Pembelian Lipstik Pixy pada Mahasiswi STIE Putra Bangsa Kebumen. Populasi dalam penelitian ini yaitu seluruh mahasiswi yang telah membeli dan menggunakan lipstik Pixy. Sampel dalam penelitian ini sebanyak 100 responden. Variabel yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini meliputi Reference Group (Beauty Vlogger), Lifestyle, Brand Image sebagai variabel independen atau variabel bebas dan Keputusan Pembelian sebagai variabel dependen atau variabel terikat. Data yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah data primer yang diperoleh dari hasil jawaban responden yang dikumpulkan dengan kuesioner dan diuji dengan teknik analisis statistik uji validitas, reliabilitas, uji asumsi klasik dan analisis regresi linier berganda. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah non probability sampling dengan teknik purposive sampling. Sikap responden diukur dengan skala likert dan data yang diperoleh diolah dengan menggunakan alat SPSS for windows versi 25. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa secara parsial dan simultan variabel Reference Group (Beauty Vlogger), Lifestyle dan Brand Image berpengaruh positif dan signifikan terhadap keputusan pembelian lipstik Pixy pada mahasiswi STIE Putra Bangsa Kebumen.

Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menganalisis pengaruh endorsement beauty vlogger, country of origin, dan perceived quality terhadap minat beli produk kosmetik mascara Maybelline. Kuesioner digunakan sebagai alat pengumpulan data. Metode Purposive Sampling digunakan untuk memilih 90 sampel dengan beberapa kriteria yang telah ditentukan. Analisis data menggunakan Structural Equation Modeling pendekatan Partial Least Square. Hasil dari penelitian mengungkapkan bahwa endorsement beauty vlogger, perceived quality berpengaruh positif signifikan terhadap minat beli, country of origin berpengaruh positif signifikan terhadap perceived quality dan country of origin berpengaruh signifikan terhadap minat beli melalui perceived quality. Sedangkan country of origin tidak berpengaruh terhadap minat beli.

Persuasive communication is one of the studies of communication that is often used as a method of influencing others in various ways, including in the field of sales. Persuasive messages are seen as a conscious effort to change thoughts and actions by manipulating motives in the direction of a predetermined goal. Decision making is an integration process that combines knowledge to evaluate two or more alternative behaviors and choose one of them. The independent variable in this study is persuasive messages and the dependent variable is the purchasing decision. This type of research is quantitative descriptive. The research data collected uses non probability sampling and purposive sampling techniques. This study uses SPSS for Windows 15 test for Validity, Reliability, Simple Linear Analysis Hypothesis, Correlation Coefficient, Determination Coefficient, Regression Analysis, and T-Test. and represent the population. The results of research conducted by researchers that persuasive messages influence as much as 39.4% in purchasing decisions, while the remaining 60.6% is influenced by other factors. Research also shows that if persuasive messages are improved, purchasing decisions will also increase. Komunikasi persuasif merupakan salah satu kajian komunikasi yang kerap digunakan sebagai metode mempengaruhi orang lain dalam berbagai hal, termasuk diantaranya dalam bidang penjualan. Pesan persuasif dipandang sebagai usaha sadar untuk mengubah pikiran dan tindakan dengan memanipulasi motif-motif ke arah tujuan yang telah ditetapkan. Pengambilan keputusan merupakan sebuah proses pengintegrasian yang mengkombinasikan pengetahuan untuk mengevaluasi dua atau lebih perilaku alternatif dan memilih salah satu diantaranya. Variabel independen dalam penelitian ini adalah pesan persuasif dan variabel dependen adalah keputusan pembelian. Jenis penelitian ini adalah deskriptif kuantitatif. Data penelitian yang dikumpulkan ini menggunakan non probability sampling dan teknik purposive sampling. Penelitian ini menggunakan alat uji SPSS for windows 15 untuk Uji Validitas, Reliabiltas, Hipotesis analisis linier sederhana, Koefisien Korelasi, Koefisien Determinasi, Analisis Regresi, dan Uji T. Peneliti memperoleh data dengan menyebarkan kuesioner kepada 100 responden yang sudah ditentukan dan sesuai dengan syarat penelitian dan mewakili populasi. Hasil penelitian yang dilakukan oleh peneliti bahwa pesan persuasif berpengaruh sebanyak 39,4% pada keputusan pembelian, sementara sisanya 60,6% dipengaruhi oleh faktor lain. Penelitian juga menunjukan bahwa apabila pesan persuasif ditingkatkan maka keputusan pembelian juga akan meningkat.

This study discusses how social media like YouTube can foster parasocial relationships between beauty vloggers and YouTube viewers. Parasocial relationships are built on a clear communication process between celebrity and viewers credible source consisting of attractiveness, expertise and trust. In addition, parasocial relationships are considered important to grow customer equity. The research analysis technique using Partial Least Square (PLS) is a powerful analytical method because it is applied at all data scales, does not require much consideration, and the sample size does not have to be large. The number of respondents consisted of 180 respondents. The sampling technique in this study is purposive sampling, which is a sampling technique that is done intentionally and in accordance with all the required sample requirements. Criteria for respondents are those who value beauty vlogger Tasya Farasya and respondents who use YouTube . The results of the study showed that the attractiveness and trust variables towards parasocial relationships. Parasocial variables affect the relationship to the value of equity, brand equity and relationship equity.

The article examines the Islamic fashion vlogger Dina Torkia’s book Modestly in terms of the ways in which it combines beauty and fashion advice and tutorials relating to modest fashion, hijab styling and cosmetics application. Through a critical discourse analysis of the book’s narrative and its many beauty- and fashion-based images, the article stresses how, having gained renown as a social media-based influencer and vlogger, Torkia’s book represents a remediated approach to communication practices of beauty and style advice. Hence, in a printed book form, Modestly consistently combines instruction with autobiographical content. In this regard, the article explores the differing ways that Modestly articulates expressions of Bourdieu’s concept of habitus in the context of modest Islamic fashion. This is explored in terms of the nature of the beauty and fashion instruction that is the main focus of the book, but also in how the autobiographical aspects of the text articulate Torkia’s self-reflections on cultural and sartorial habitus in relation to a Muslim lifestyle, modest dress and beauty conventions and changing perceptions and articulations of cultural hybridity and intersectional identity.

Rachel Goddard memilih youtube untuk menjadi media utama dalam mata pencahariaanya. Melalui kegiatan video blogging, Rachel membuat konten-konten yang mendukung passionnya dalam berkarya. Sebagai sosok yang menggunakan dirinya sebagai pusat dari pekerjaannya, sangatlah perlu untuk memasarkan dirinya secara sistematis, secara singkat dapat dibilang bahwa seorang Youtuber perlu melakukan personal branding terhadap dirinya. Rachel mem-branding dirinya sebagai Beauty, Travel and Parody Vlogger yang ditunjukkan melalui akun Youtubenya. Rachel Goddard telah mengetahui identitas yang ingin dikeluarkan dalam dirinya kepada orang lain juga tujuan yang ia miliki dalam membuat video blog, Rachel memiliki cara untuk membentuk identitas onlinenya dalam proses personal brandnya sebagai beauty, travel & parody vlogger melalui video-video yang ia buat dan Rachel Goddard membentuk identitas online yang ia miliki dan apa yang menjadikannya menarik namun Rachel belum bisa menunjukkan konsistensi dirinya secara maksimal dalam pemerataan konten, penggunaan identitas online.

Youtube is a very popular media by the people in Indonesia, especially the makeup artist. According to data from Wearesocial, Youtube has occupied the first position with a percentage of approximately 88%, and then followed by a second position and so on by Facebook, Whatsapp, and Instagram. Yotube itself is about entertainment, Video clips, or Vlog (Video Blog) where the vlogs can contain about private vacation videos, promote goods or products, or daily activities in this research using video blogs From Tasya Farasya entitled "Focallure One Brand Makeup Tutorial!!". The purpose of this research is to find out how the perception of Make up artist (MUA) is a product review through beauty vlogger on Youtube. This research uses qualitative descriptive research method with in-depth interview techniques and participants in this study as many as 5 people in the Make up artist (MUA). The results of this research show that the informant budgeted that the video blog of Tasya Farasya which contained about the product review is beneficial and very helpful in product selection.

Wardah is a brand of cosmetics in under the auspices of PT. Paragon Technology and Innovation. Wardah present as one of the brands of cosmetics the largest in Indonesia , products Wardah first time launched in the year 1995. PT. Paragon Technology and Innovation is always on top of market growth every year . Even Throughout the year 2020 Wardah has succeeded in exporting 22.9 billion worth to Malaysia. This study aims to determine the factors that influence the purchase interest of Wardah beauty products . The author will meniliti 4 factors such as Beauty Vlogger, Quality Products , Image Brand And price product it itself . The population in this study is the Consumer Products Beauty Wardah are domiciled in Soloraya include Boyolali , Karanganyar , Surakarta, Sukoharjo , Klaten , Sragen and Wonogiri . Research is using the technique of taking samples with a short a tan purposive sampling with the total respondents as many as 102 respondents . While for Technical analysis of the data using analysis regression linear multiple , Test T ( Partial ), Test F ( Simultaneous ) and Test Koefiesien of determination (R2). Based on the research that has been done, it can be concluded that this research according to the results of the partial T test, the variable that dominates the interest in purchasing wardah beauty products is the variable quality of the product where the product quality has a percentage value of 51.46% which is greater than the percentage value for the Beauty Vlogger variable. , Brand Image and Price.

Objective – The thrive of social media enables everyone to share their purchase and consumption experiences, including beauty product consumption. The study aims to determine whether the attitude towards UGC, perceived credibility and user activity of UGC on YouTube influences the purchase intention toward a beauty product. Methodology/Technique – Questionnaires were distributed online to 200 people who had watched beauty product review videos on YouTube at least once and who were minimum 18 years old. The data was analyzed using multiple regression. Findings – The results indicate that attitudes towards UGC content on YouTube and perceived credibility affect purchasing intentions. Whereas user activities does not correlate with purchase intentions on beauty products. UGC content usually provides information and provides tips and tricks about using beauty products. The more attractive the content is, the more people want to see it and the more likely they will be to use the content to fulfill their information needs. Beauty vloggers are considered more credible than producer-generated content. Activities such as searching for, liking, subscribing or commenting does not necessarily indicate purchase intentions. This simply represents people fulfilling their social needs to interact with each other in a social environment. Novelty – Companies could provide training or facilities for UGC creators in order to create more attractive content. The most important finding of this study is that companies should continually improve the quality of their products, because the credibility of content makers relies on their experience with the products themselves. Marketers should monitor community discussions to find out more about the public interest in their products. In addition, marketers can also identify the shortcomings of their products to better enable them to fix them by reviewing comments on UGC. Type of Paper: Empirical. Keywords: User Generated Content (UGC); Beauty Vlogger; Beauty Product; E-WoM; YouTube. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Nosita, F.; Lestari,T. 2019. The Influence of User Generated Content and Purchase Intention on Beauty Products, J. Mgt. Mkt. Review 4 (3) 171 – 183. https://doi.org/10.35609/jmmr.2019.4.3(2) JEL Classification: M31, M37, M39.

Berkembangnya teknologi menjadikan kegiatan komunikasi antar manusia turut berubah. Media sosial diciptakan sebagai cara baru untuk saling berbagi informasi hanya dengan sekejap mata. Perkembangan tersebut juga memberi dampak pada berbagai bidang salah satunya bidang kecantikan, dimana sekarang dunia kecantikan dianggap sebagai hal penting bagi rata-rata perempuan. Kemudian, informasi tentang dunia kecantikan dibagikan melalui media sosial. Maka dari itu, penelitian ini dilakukan dengan tujuan mengetahui dan menjelaskan sejauh mana kalangan milenial di Kota Samarinda berbagi informasi dari salah satu akun beauty vlogger @kekeshabila dengan menggunakan E-WoM. Jenis penelitian yang digunakan adalah pendekatan kualitatif deskriptif. Teknik analisis data dilakukan melalui tiga tahapan, yaitu: mereduksi data, menyajikan data, dan menarik kesimpulan. Data dikumpulkan melalui dua cara, pertama adalah wawancara terhadap followers akun @kekeshabila dan kedua observasi terhadap akun @kekeshabila. Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa followers akun @kekeshabila adalah pengguna aktif media sosial khususnya Instagram dan cukup aktif berbagi informasi menggunakan E-WoM. Serta konten pada akun @kekeshabila informatif dan kreatif sehingga followers tertarik untuk melihatnya.

Tulisan ini berbicara tentang citra tubuh manusia sebagai bagian penting dari totalitas eksistensi di dalam konstruksi sosial-masyarakat. Citra tubuh sendiri terbangun berdasarkan kesan, pikiran, perasaan, dan opini seseorang tentang tubuhnya. Terkait dengan maraknya beauty vlogger pada berbagai akun media sosial (YouTube dan Instagram) yang mendemonstrasikan berbagai teknik makeup bagi perempuan, penulis mengemukakan kritik rekonstruksi terhadap hiruk-pikuk modernisme yang menempatkan manusia terjebak dalam konstruksi pandangan industri-kolonialisme yang mengatakan bahwa tata rias wajah (makeup) menjadi bagian dari gambar diri manusia, khususnya bagi perempuan. Penulis berargumentasi bahwa manusia sejatinya adalah mahluk yang indah dan berharga dalam keaslian gambaran dirinya meski tanpa bantuan tata rias wajah dengan menggunakan konsep body image dalam ranah psikologi dan sudut pandang estetika dari Hans Urs von Balthasar.

Masculinity has the understanding that a man should have a strict, male and rude attitude. A man who has a gentle nature, does not like heavy sports and others will be considered a taboo in society. Masculinity that has changed in society along with the development of the times, this is indicated by the emergence of male beauty vloggers who discuss about beauty, self-care, style of dress and so on. One of them is Tysna Saputra. Through his YouTube channel, Tysna Saputra uploaded a video titled SKIN CARE GUYS at CHILDREN COST! Tysna practices self care steps for men. This, builds men's awareness to be more able to take care of themselves and not feel taboo when doing it. The method used by the author is a qualitative research method, namely by using Van Djik's critical discourse analysis techniques. The method used is online data observation and tracking using data triangulation. The author's observation was to watch Tysna's YouTube video repeatedly and explain each scene and product used. Observations made by the writer will prove that by doing self-care, will not reduce the value of masculinity that exists in a man. This will be related to Van Djik's theory of analysis.Maskulinitas memiliki pengertian bahwa seorang laki-laki sudah seharusnya memiliki sikap yang tegas, jantan dan kasar. Seorang laki-laki yang memiliki sifat lemah lembut, tidak menyukai olahraga berat dan lainnya akan dianggap sebagai hal yang tabu di maskyarakat. Maskulinitas yang telah berubah di masyarakat seiring dengan berkembangnya zaman, hal ini ditunjunkkan dengan bermunculannya para beauty vlogger laki-laki yang membahas mengenai kecantikan, perawatan diri, gaya berpakaian dan sebagainya. Salah satunya adalah Tysna Saputra. Melalui kanal YouTubenya, Tysna Saputra mengunggah video dengan judul SKIN CARE COWOK harga ANAK KOST!. Tysna mempraktekkan langkah – langkah merawat diri untuk laki-laki. Hal ini, membangun awareness kaum laki-laki untuk bisa lebih merawat diri dan tidak merasa tabu saat melakukannya. Metode yang digunakan oleh penulis adalah metode penelitian kualitatif, yaitu dengan memakai teknik analisis wacana kritis Van Djik. Metode yang digunakan adalah observasi dan penulusuran data online menggunakan triangulasi data. Observasi yang penulis lakukan adalah menonton video YouTube Tysna dengan berulang – ulang dan menjelaskan setiap adegan dan produk yang digunakan. Observasi yang dilakukan penulis akan membuktikan bahwa dengan melakukan perawatan diri, tidak akan mengurangi nilai maskulinitas yang ada pada seorang laki-laki. Hal ini akan dikaitkan dengan teori analisis Van Djik.

Penelitian ini dilatarbelakangi oleh adanya digital opinion leader yang dinilai mampu memberikan dampak dan mempengaruhi cara berfikir khalayak pada suatu produk tertentu. Dengan terciptanya digital opinion leader mereka mempunyai peran dalam sosial media mereka yang mempunyai pengikut lebih banyak dibandingkan dengan individu lain. Oleh karena itu, banyak perusahaan atau brand yang menggunakan mereka sebagai bagian dari strategi pemasaran. Kekuatan pesan yang disampaikan oleh mereka akan mampu mempengaruhi pola berfikir konsumen, yang sekaligus akan berperan untuk menilai citra dari produk atau brand tersebut. Brand kosmetik Make Over menggunakan banyak digital opinion leader salah satunya Titan Tyra. Penelitian ini menggunakan teori komunikasi model dua tahap atau two step flow of communication model. Dari hasil pengolahan data diketahui bahwa variabel independen dalam penelitian ini mempunyai pengaruh sebesar 0,891. Artinya bahwa hubungan antara x dan y sangat kuat. Hasil signifikan (sig.) penelitian ini sebesar 0.000 yang dimana Sig. Hitung < 0.05, yang artinya variabel independen berpengaruh signifikan terhadap variabel dependen, maka dapat disimpulkan bahwa Terpaan Pesan Digital Opinion Leader mempunyai pengaruh signifikan terhadap Brand Image Produk.

Make Up merupakan salah satu bagian dari kehidupan masyarakat pada saat ini. Seiring perkembangan jaman make up mempunyai banyak variasi, salah satunya Make Up Art. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk membahas mengenai kreativitas Cindercella dalam mengkomunikasikan make up art. Cindercella adalah seorang beauty vlogger yang sudah cukup ternama dan make up art sudah melekat pada dirinya yang dikenal banyak orang. Penulis tertarik untuk menganalisa kreativitas make up art yang dibuat oleh Cindercella karena make up yang dibuat sangat unik, menarik, dan kreatif. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui alasan mengkomunikasikan dan melakukan make up art yang dilakukan oleh Cindercella. Dalam penelitian ini menggunakan beberapa teori antara lain teori komunikasi, identitas diri, dan kreativitas. Jenis metodelogi penelitian ini adalah kualitatif dengan metode studi kasus deskriptif. Teknik pengumpulan data ini dengan menggunakan metode wawancara mendalam, observasi dan hal-hal lain yang terkait dengan penelitian ini untuk mengetahui kreativitas yang dilakukan oleh Cindercella dalam mengkomunikasikan make up art. Dapat disimpulkan, make up art yang dilakukan oleh cindercella berbeda unik dan kreatif sehingga membuat dirinya dikenal oleh banyak orang dan menjadikan make up art tersebut sebagai identitas yang sudah melekat pada dirinya. Tujuan make up art yang dilakukan oleh cindercella agar dirinya dapat menjadi trensetter.

Penelitian ini di latarbelakangi oleh maraknya para remaja yang semakin megandalkan internet, salah satunya adalah media social yang kali ini banyak diakses oleh perempuan generasi millennial yaitu Youtube. Masing-masing channel Youtube beauty vlogger menginformasikan bagaimana tutorial make-up untuk sehari-hari atau untuk acara tertentu dan juga bagaimana cara merawat kulit wajah. Youtube dijadikan sumber informasi karena tampilan Youtube yang berupa audio visual yang memudahkan para individu yang mengaksesnya mudah menirukannya. Tujuan skripsi ini untuk menemukan temuan-temuan baru mengenai (1) Motif (2) Pengalaman dan (3)Makna Perempuan Generasi Millennial yang menjadikan Youtube sebagai Media Informasi Kecantikan. Penelitian ini menggunakan teori Fenomenologi menurut Alfred Schutz dan Edmund Husserl. Metode penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif dengan metode deskriptif kualitatif. Teknik pengumpulan data dilakukan melalui wawancara mendalam, observasi partisipan. Peneliti menetapkan enam objek penelitian untuk dijadikan sumber data dari sejumlah wawancara yang dilakukan secara purposive sampling. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa (a) Motif Untuk perempuan generasi Millenial menggunakan Youtube yaitu untuk mencari tutorial make-up untuk menunjang penampilan, (b) Motif Karena yaitu karena informasi yang didapatkan di Youtube lebih akurat. Hasil dari temuan (c) pengalaman, yaitu para remaja perempuan dapat membuka lapangan pekerjaan nya sendiri dengan menjadi MUA. Selain itu, peneliti mendapatkan hasil temuan (d) Makna yang dimana youtube sangat membantu para perempuan utnuk menemukan make-up dan skincare yang cocok untuk mereka.

This article will look to YouTube’s algorithm to assess how such forms of mechanical decision-making can create a discriminatory visibility hierarchy of vloggers, favouring middle class social actors who make highly gendered content aligned with advertisers’ demands and needs. I have selected entrepreneurial beauty vloggers as a case study for this article; beauty vlogging is defined as the demonstration and discussion of cosmetic use, often from a vIoggers’ own bedroom (Banet Weiser, 2017; Nathanson, 2014). This is a deeply entrenched genre on the site; beauty vlogging is a full-time job for some successful participants, and a source of pocket money for many more. Moreover, beauty vlogging is an effective illustration of how the YouTube algorithm causes the polarization of identity markers such as gender. Indeed, for female participants, I hypothesize that YouTube actively promotes hegemonic, feminized cultural outputs, created by beauty vloggers with significant embodied social and cultural capital. That is to say, for women on YouTube, the algorithm privileges and rewards feminized content deeply entwined with consumption, beauty, fashion, baking, friendships and boyfriends in the vein of the historical bedroom culture of the teenage magazine. A secondary hypothesis is that beauty vloggers’ own understandings of YouTube’s algorithmic processes are learned and embodied within their own practices, influencing modes of self-presentation, tone of voice, choice of content covered, words and sentence structures used. I argue that it is essential to situate all beauty vloggers’ experience and content as specific to the platform of YouTube; it is their continued success on the YouTube platform that underwrites the value of their brands. In other words, even highly successful vloggers remain beholden to YouTube’s technologies of visibility, they are not safe from the sovereignty of the algorithm.

Beauty vloggers’ feminised outputs often position them outside of traditional spheres of technical expertise, however, their strategic management of algorithmic visibility makes them an illuminating source of algorithmic knowledge. I draw from an ethnography of beauty vloggers and industry stakeholders to study the collaborative and directive processes used to formulate and sustain algorithmic expertise – algorithmic gossip. Algorithmic gossip is defined as communally and socially informed theories and strategies pertaining to recommender algorithms, shared and implemented to engender financial consistency and visibility on algorithmically structured social media platforms. Gossip is productive: community communication and talk informs and supports practices such as uploading frequently and producing feminised beauty content to perform more effectively on YouTube. Taking gossip seriously can present a valuable resource for revealing information about how algorithms work and have worked, in addition to revealing how perceptions of algorithms inform content production.

Black women with tightly coiled hair are faced with the unique health challenge of abstaining from exercise or other self-care behaviors to maintain hairstyles that are often expensive, time consuming, and conform with Eurocentric standards of beauty. However, recent YouTube natural hair vlogs have emerged to provide a counter-narrative on “do it yourself” hair care practices for highly textured hair. Through a thematic content analysis of the top 20 viewed natural hair YouTube vlogs, findings suggest that Black women vloggers demonstrate product selection through detangling, shampooing, moisturizing, and styling their tightly coiled hair on camera, using their own lived experiences, as both peer and expert to viewers. These vloggers took the role of digital storytellers to describe their personal experiences with self-care in the forms of exercise, eating healthy food, drinking water, medication use, and stress management while maintaining healthy and stylish natural hair. Black female natural hair vloggers disrupt the myths about tightly coiled natural hair and are credible conduits for the distribution of health information aimed at reaching large masses of Black women through sisterhood supported wellness.

This study explores the industrial underpinning and the cultural logic of social media celebrity. Social media visibility may be considered as an alternative way to fame as it bypasses the gatekeeper role played by the entertainment and mass media industries. However, the institutionalization of social media platforms like YouTube and the professionalization of amateur content creation may lead to social media becoming a new locale for industrialized celebrity manufacturing. Taking YouTube beauty vloggers as an example, this study shows that being a celebrity on social media is economically embedded in an industrial structure constituted by the platform’s business model, technical affordances, the advertising market, and commercial cultural intermediaries. Social media celebrity’s status is achieved not only through a set of affiliative, representational, and celebrification techniques, but also by engaging in meticulous entrepreneurial calculation considering the abovementioned industrial factors. This emerging industrial structure is associated with a new cultural logic of celebrity that distinguishes the fame native to social media from that on the silver screen and television. This study shows that social media celebrity is characterized by staged authenticity, managed connectedness with audience, the abundance of celebrity figures, and the cultural preoccupation with self-sufficient uniqueness.

This study aims to analyze the influence and significance of YouTube beauty vlogger review, self congruity and price perception to impulse buying as well as their impact on the repurchase intention of young girls using Emina cosmetics in Surabaya. This research was using a quantitative method. The research data are primary data obtained from a sample of 100 young girls of Emina cosmetics users in Surabaya as the respondents. Data collected from online questionnaires and then analyzed using Partial Least Square (PLS) which processed by SmartPLS 3 version 3.6.8 software. The result of this research indicated that YouTube beauty vlogger review did not have a significant impact on impulse buying and repurchase intention. While the self-congruity and price perception significantly affected impulse buying and repurchase intention. Therefore, Emina should be focusing to strengthen its brand identity and maintain the affordability of their product rather than collaborating with beauty vlogger as their promotion strategy.

This research was a case where researchers curiosity to know the use of integrated marketing komunuikasi using beauty vlogger role of sarah ayu in building brand product image makeover .This research use descriptive methods with techniques qualitative data collection of in-depth interviews , and the study of literature .This research concluded that with integrated marketing communications by sarah ayu as beauty vlogger can build a brand image make overs become better with video shown by sarah ayu where in the video explains sarah ayu one by one the quality of the product that has been used in the video .With explanations of those products make the audience gave positive responses against brand make overs .Attitude with communication resulting from watching the video is brand image makeover namely positive image in view of the consumer .

This article is based on an analysis of ‘anti-haul’ videos on YouTube, where a vlogger explains which beauty products they plan not to buy. Anti-haul vloggers have much in common with ‘culture jamming’ movements, which use the communicative practices and materials of promotional culture against itself to spread an anti-consumerist agenda. The article argues that anti-hauls should be understood as the reinvention of ‘culture jamming’ techniques for a contemporary promotional culture that is platform based, algorithmically governed, and mobilised through the affective, authentic performance of the ‘influencer’. I refer to this manipulation of the platform’s visibility mechanisms to spread anti-consumer messages as ‘algorithmic culture jamming’. The anti-consumer politics of anti-hauls are contradictory and ambivalent. At the same time, I argue that anti-hauls also offer important possibilities for political learning, personal and collective transformation, and alternative creative pleasures outside of continual consumer accumulation.

In this paper, we explore how video blogs (vlogs) evoke the sense of “presence”, by examining famous U. K. video blogger (vlogger) Zoe Sugg’s “Haul” videos. As a result of this analysis, we argue that vlogs could evoke presence through two main elements: sensory and social elements. Sensory elements refer to colour, camera usage, video image and sound qualities. Social elements are eye contact, facial expression, conversation and gesture. Past studies have rarely applied “presence” theory to vlogging. As vlogs have become a popular format on the Internet, this study could provide new directions for research into the experiences of vlog viewers. It also offers video bloggers initial understandings of how their content could affect their popularity by altering audiences’ feelings of presence.

This study aims to identify the effect of beauty vlogger’s credibility and attractiveness on purchase intention and find the most influential variable. A quantitative approach using survey (questionnaire) was used. The population in this study was 41.517 viewers of Abel Cantika's vlog titled "Demo dan Review the Body Shop New Hair Care Fuji Green Tea”. 100 samples were selected using purposive sampling technique. The results of this study found that both credibility and attractiveness of the endorser significantly influenced purchase intention, the later was found to be the most influential variable.

IntroductionSince its launch in 2005, YouTube has fast become one of the most popular video sharing sites, one of the largest sources of user generated content, and one of the most frequently visited sites globally (Burgess and Green). As YouTube’s popularity has increased, more and more people have taken up the site’s invitation to “Broadcast Yourself.” Vlogging (video blogging) on YouTube has increased in popularity, creating new genres and communities. Vlogging not only allows individuals to create their own mediated content for mass consumption—making it a site for participatory culture (Burgess and Green; Jenkins) and resembling contemporary forms of entertainment such as reality television—but it also allows individuals to engage in narrative and identity forming practices. Through filming their everyday lives, and presenting themselves on camera, YouTubers are engaging in a process of constructing and presenting their identity online. They often form communities around these identities and continue the practice in dialogue and collaboration with their communities of viewers on YouTube. Because of YouTube’s mass global reach, the ability to create one’s own mediated content and the ability to publicly play with and project different self representations becomes a powerful tool allowing YouTubers to publicly challenge social norms and encourage others to do the same. This paper will explore these features of YouTube using the recent “The Power of MAKEUP!” movement, started by NikkieTutorials, as an example. Through a virtual ethnography of the movement as developed by Christine Hine—following the people, dialogue, connections, and narratives that emerged from Nikkie’s original video—this paper will demonstrate that YouTube is not only a tool for self transformation, but has wider potential to transform norms in society. This is achieved mainly through mobilising communities that form around transformative practices, such as makeup transformations, on YouTube. Vlogging as an Identity Forming Practice Vlogging on YouTube is a contemporary form of autobiography in which individuals engage in a process of documenting their life on a daily or weekly basis and, in doing so, constructing their identity online. Although the aim of beauty vlogs is to teach new makeup techniques, demonstrate and review new products, or circulate beauty-related information, the videos include a large amount of self-disclosure. Beauty vloggers reveal intimate things about themselves and actively engage in the practice of self-representation while filming. Beauty vlogging is unique to other vlogging genres as it almost always involves an immediate transformation of the physical self in each video. The vloggers typically begin with their faces bare and “natural” and throughout the course of the video transform their faces into how they want to be seen, and ultimately, who they want to be that day, using makeup. Thus the process of self-representation is multi-dimensional as not only are they presenting the self, but they are also visually constructing the self on camera. The construction of identity that beauty vloggers engage in on YouTube can be likened to what Robert Ezra Park and later Erving Goffman refer to as the construction and performance of a mask. In his work Race and Culture, Park states that the original meaning of the word person is a mask (249). Goffman responds to this statement in his work The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, saying the mask is “our truer self, the self we would like to be” (30). Beauty vloggers are engaging in the process of constructing their mask—their truer self and the self they would like to be—both through their performance on YouTube, and through the visual transformation that takes place on camera. Their performance on YouTube not only communicates a desired identity, but through their performance they realise this identity. The process of filming and the visual process of constructing or transforming the self on camera through makeup brings the subject into being. Scholarship in the fields of Life Writing and Digital Media including Autobiography, Automedia and Persona Studies has acknowledged and explored the ways narratives and identities—both online and offline—are constructed, created, shaped, chosen, and invented by the individual/author (Garner; Bridger; Eakin; Maguire; Poletti and Rak; Marshall; Smith and Watson). It is widely accepted that all representations of the self are constructed. Crucially, it is the process of documenting or communicating the self that is identity forming (Richardson; Bridger), as the process, including writing, filming, and posting, brings the subject or self into being (Neuman). The individual embodies their performance and realises the self through it. Park and Goffman argue that we all engage in this process of performing and realising the self through the roles we play in society. The significance of the beauty vlogger performance and transformation is the space in which it occurs and the community that it fosters. YouTube as a Transformative Tool and MirrorThe space in which beauty vloggers play with and transform the self on camera is significant as digital technologies such as YouTube invite exploration of the self. Networked digital media (Meikle and Young) invite multiplicity, heterogeneity, and fragmentation in/of identity performances (Bolter; Gergen; Turkle, "Parallel Lives"). These technologies create opportunities for defining and re-defining the self (Bolter 130), as they allow people to present a more multi-mediated self, using both audio-visual components and text (Papacharissi 643).YouTube, in particular, allows the individual to experiment with the self, and document an ongoing transformation, through film (Kavoori). Many scholars have described this ongoing process of identity construction online using the metaphor of “the mirror” (see Kavoori; Raun; and Procter as recent examples). In his research on trans gender vlogging on YouTube, Tobias Raun explores the theme of the mirror. He describes vlogging as a “transformative medium for working on, producing and exploring the self” (366). He argues the vlog acts as a mirror allowing the individual to try out and assume various identities (366). He writes, the mirroring function of the vlog “invites the YouTuber to assume the shape of a desired identity/representation, constantly assuming and evaluating oneself as an attractive image, trying out different ‘styles of the flesh’ (Butler 177), poses and appearances” (367). In reference to trans gender vlogging, Raun writes, “The vlog seems to serve an important function in the transitioning process, and is an important part of a process of self-invention, serving as a testing ground for experimentations with, and manifestations of (new) identities” (367). The mirror (vlog) gives the individual a place/space to construct and perform their mask (identity), and an opportunity to see the reflection and adjust the mask (identity) accordingly. An important feature of the vlog as a mirror is the fact that it is less like a conventional mirror and more like a window with a reflective surface. On YouTube the vlog always involves an audience, who not only watch the performance, but also respond to it. This is in keeping with Goffman’s assertion that there is always an audience involved in any performance of the self. On YouTube, Raun argues, “the need to represent oneself goes hand in hand with the need to connect and communicate” (Raun 369). Networked digital media such as YouTube are inherently social. They invite participation (Smith; Sauter)and community through community building functions such as the ability to like, subscribe, and comment. Michael Strangelove refers to YouTube as a social space, “as a domain of self-expression, community and public confession” (4). The audience and community are important in the process of identity construction and representation as they serve a crucial role in providing feedback and encouragement, legitimising the identity being presented. As Raun writes, the vlog is an opportunity “for seeing one’s own experiences and thoughts reflected in others” (366). Raun identifies that for the trans gender vloggers in his study, simply knowing there is an audience watching their vlogs is enough to affirm their identity. He writes the vlog can be both “an individual act of self validation and . . . a social act of recognition and encouragement” (368). However, in the case of beauty vlogging the audience do more than watch, they form communities embodying and projecting the performance in everyday life and thus collectively challenge social norms, as seen in the “The Power of MAKEUP!” movement. Exploring the “The Power of MAKEUP!” MovementOn 10 May 2015, Nikkie, a well-known beauty vlogger, uploaded a video to her YouTube channel NikkieTutorials titled “The Power of MAKEUP!” Nikkie’s video can be watched here. In her video Nikkie challenges “makeup shaming,” arguing that makeup is not only fun, but can “transform” you into who you want to be. Inspired by an episode of the reality television show RuPaul’s Drag Race, in which the competing drag queens transform half of their face into “glam” (drag), and leave the other half of their face bare (male), Nikkie demonstrates that anyone can use makeup as a transformative tool. In her video Nikkie mirrors the drag queen transformations, transforming half her face into “glam” and leaving the other half of her face bare, as shown in Figure 1. In only transforming half of her face, Nikkie emphasises the scope of the transformation, demonstrating just how much you can change your appearance using only makeup on your face. Nikkie’s video communicates that both a transformed “glam” image and an “unedited” image of the self are perfectly fine, “there are no rules” and neither representations of the self should bring you shame. Figure 1: thumbnail of Nikkie’s videoNikkie’s video started a movement and spread throughout the beauty community on YouTube as a challenge. Other famous beauty vloggers, and everyday makeup lovers, took on the challenge of creating YouTube videos or posting pictures on Instagram of their faces half bare and half transformed using makeup with the tag #thepowerofmakeupchallenge. Since its release in May 2015, Nikkie’s video has been watched over thirty million times, has been liked over five hundred and thirty thousand times, and has received over twenty three thousand comments, many of which echo Nikkie’s experience of “makeup shaming.” “The power of makeup” video went viral and was picked up not only by the online beauty community but also by mainstream media with articles by Huffington Post, Yahoo.com, Marie Claire, BuzzFeed, DailyLife, POPSUGAR, Enews, Urbanshowbiz, BoredPanda, and kickvick among others. On Instagram, thousands of everyday makeup lovers have recreated the transformation and uploaded their pictures of the finished result. Various hashtags have been created around this movement and can be searched on Instagram including #thepowerofmakeupchallenge, #powerofmakeupchallenge, #powerofmakeup. Nikkie’s Instagram page dedicated to the challenge can be seen here. “The power of makeup” video is a direct reaction against what Nikkie calls “makeup shaming”—the idea that makeup is bad, and the assumption that the leading motivation for using makeup is insecurity. In her video Nikkie also reacts to the idea that the made-up-girl is “not really you,” or worse is “fake.” In the introduction to her video Nikkie says,I’ve been noticing a lot lately that girls have been almost ashamed to say that they love makeup because nowadays when you say you love makeup you either do it because you want to look good for boys, you do it because you’re insecure, or you do it because you don’t love yourself. I feel like in a way lately it’s almost a crime to love doing your makeup. So after last weeks RuPaul’s Drag Race with the half drag half male, I was inspired to show you the power of makeup. I notice a lot that when I don’t wear makeup and I have my hair up in a bun and I meet people and I show them picture of my videos or, or whatever looks I have done, they look at me and straight up tell me “that is not you.” They tell me “that’s funny” because I don’t even look like that girl on the picture. So without any further ado I’m going to do half my face full on glam—I’m truly going to transform one side of my face—and the other side is going to be me, raw, unedited, nothing, me, just me. So let’s do it.In her introduction, Nikkie identifies a social attitude that many of her viewers can relate to, that the made-up face isn’t the “real you.” This idea reveals an interesting contradiction in social attitude. As this issue of Media/Culture highlights, the theme of transformation is increasingly popular in contemporary society. Renovation shows, weight loss shows, and “makeover” shows have increased in number and popularity around the world (Lewis). Tania Lewis attributes this to an international shift towards “the real” on television (447). Accompanying this turn towards “the real,” confession, intimacy, and authenticity are now demanded and consumed as entertainment (Goldthwaite; Dovey; King). Sites such as YouTube are arguably popular because they offer real stories, real lives, and have a core value of authenticity (Strangelove; Wesch; Young; Tolson). The power of makeup transformations are challenging because they juxtapose a transformation against the natural, on the self. By only transforming half their face, the beauty vloggers juxtapose the “makeover” (transformation) with “authenticity” (the natural). The power of makeup movement is therefore caught between two contemporary social values. However, the desire for authenticity, and the lack of acceptance that the transformed image is authentic seems to be the main criticism that the members of this movement receive. Beauty vloggers identify a strong social value that “natural” is “good” and any attempt to alter the natural is taboo. Even in the commercial world “natural beauty” is celebrated and features heavily in the marketing and advertising campaigns of popular beauty, cosmetic, and skincare brands. Consider Maybelline’s emphasis on “natural beauty” in their byline “Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s Maybelline.” This is not the way the members of “the power of makeup” movement use and celebrate makeup. They use and celebrate makeup as a transformative and identity forming tool, and their use of makeup is most often criticised for not being natural. In her recreation of Nikkie’s video, Evelina Forsell says “people get upset when I’m not natural.” Like Nikkie, Evelina reveals she often receives the criticism that “the person with a full on face with makeup is not you.” Evelina’s video can be watched here.“The power of makeup” movement and its participants challenge this criticism that the made-up self is not the “real” self. Evelina directly responds to this criticism in her video, stating “when I have a full face of makeup . . . that’s still me, but a more . . . creative me, I guess.” The beauty vloggers in this movement use makeup and YouTube as extensions of the self, as tools for self-expression, self-realisation, and ongoing transformation. Beauty vloggers are demonstrating that makeup is a tool and extension of the self that allows them to explore and play with their self-representations. In the same way that technology enables the individual to extend and “reinvent him/herself online” (Papacharissi 645), so does makeup. And in the same way that technology becomes an extension of the self, or even a second self (Turkle, The Second Self; Vaast) so does makeup. Makeup is a tool and technique of the self. Vlogging is about storytelling (Kavoori), but it is also collective—it’s about telling collective stories (Raun 373) which can be seen in various vlogging genres. As Geert Lovink suggests, YouTube is one of the largest databases of global shared experience. YouTube’s global popularity can be attributed to Strangelove’s assertion that “there’s nothing more interesting to real people . . . than authentic stories told about other real people” (65). Individuals are drawn to Nikkie’s experience, seeing themselves reflected in her story. Famous beauty vloggers on YouTube, and everyday beauty lovers, find community in the collective experience of feeling shame for loving makeup and using makeup to transform and communicate their identity. Effectively, the movement forms communities of practice (Wenger) made up of hundreds of people brought together by the shared value and use of makeup as a transformative tool. The online spaces where these activities take place (mainly on YouTube and Instagram) form affinity spaces (Gee) where the community come together, share information, learn and develop their practice. Hundreds of YouTubers from all over the world took up Nikkie’s invitation to demonstrate the power of makeup by transforming themselves on camera. From well-established beauty vloggers with millions of viewers, to amateur beauty lovers with YouTube channels, many people felt moved by Nikkie’s example and embodied the message, adapting the transformation to suit their circumstances. The movement includes both men and women, children and adults. Some transformations are inspirational such as Shalom Blac’s in which she talks about accepting the scars that are all over her face, but also demonstrates how makeup can make them disappear. Shalom has almost five million views on her “POWER OF MAKEUP” video, and has been labelled “inspirational” by the media. Shalom Blac’s video can be watched here and the media article labelling her as “inspirational” can be viewed here. Others, such as PatrickStarrr, send a powerful message that “It’s okay to be yourself.” Unlike a traditional interpretation of that statement, Patrick is communicating that it is okay to be the self that you construct, on any given day. Patrick also has over four million views on his video which can be watched here. During her transformation, Nikkie points out each feature of her face that she does not like and demonstrates how she can change it using makeup. Nikkie’s video is primarily a tutorial, educating viewers on different makeup techniques that can manipulate the appearance of their natural features into how they would like them to appear. These techniques are also reproduced and embodied through the various contributors to the movement. Thus the tutorial is an educational tool enabling others to use makeup for their own self representations (see Paul A. Soukup for an overview of YouTube as an educational tool). A feminist perspective may deconstruct the empowering, educational intentions of Nikkie’s video, insisting that conceptions of beauty are a social construct (Travis, Meginnis, and Bardari) and should not be re-enforced by encouraging women (and men) to use make-up to feel good. However, this sort of discourse does not appear in the movement, and this paper seeks to analyse the movement as its contributors frame and present it. Rather, “the power of makeup” movement falls within a postfeminist framework celebrating choice, femininity, independence, and the individual construction of modern identity (McRobbie; Butler; Beck, Giddens and Lash). Postfeminism embraces postmodern notions of identity in which individuals are “called up to invent their own structures” (McRobbie 260). Through institutions such as education young women have “become more independent and able,” and “‘dis-embedded’ from communities where gender roles were fixed” (McRobbie 260). Angela McRobbie attributes this to the work of scholars such as Anthony Giddens and Ulrich Beck and their emphasis on individualisation and reflexive modernisation. These scholars take a Foucauldian approach to identity construction in the modern age, where the individual must choose their own structures “internally and individualistically” (260), engaging in an ongoing process of self-monitoring and self-improvement, and resulting in the current self-help culture (McRobbie). In addition to being an educational and constructive tool, Nikkie’s video is also an exercise in self-branding and self-promotion(see Marwick; Duffy and Hund; and van Nuenen for scholarship on self-branding). Through her ongoing presence on YouTube, presenting this video in conjunction with her other tutorials, Nikkie is establishing herself as a beauty vlogger/guru. Nikkie lists all of the products that she uses in her transformation below her video with links to where people can buy them. She also lists her social media accounts, ways that people can connect with her, and other videos that people might be interested in watching. There are also prompts to subscribe, both during her video and in the description bar below her video. Nikkie’s transformation is both an ongoing endeavour to create her image and public persona as a beauty vlogger, and a physical transformation on camera. There is also a third transformation that takes place because her vlog is in the public sphere and consequently mobilises a movement. The transformation is of the way people talk about and eventually perceive makeup. Nikkie’s video aims to end makeup shaming and promote makeup as an empowering tool. With each recreation of her video, with each Instagram photo featuring the transformation, and with each mainstream media article featuring the movement, #thepowerofmakeup movement community are transforming the image of the made-up girl—transforming the association of makeup with presenting an inauthentic identity—in society. ConclusionThe “The Power of MAKEUP!” movement, started by NikkieTutorials, demonstrates one way in which people are using YouTube as a transformative tool, and mirror, to document, construct, and present their identity online, using makeup. Through their online transformation the members of the movement not only engage in a process of constructing and presenting their identity, but they form communities who share a love of makeup and its transformative potential. By embodying Nikkie’s original message to rid makeup shaming and transform the self into a desired identity, the movement re-enforces the “made-up” image of the self as real and authentic, and challenges conceptions that the “made-up” image is “fake” and inauthentic. Ultimately, this case study explores YouTube as a site that allows individuals to play with, construct, and present their identity. YouTube is a tool with which, and a space in which, people can transform themselves, and in doing so create communities which can work together to publicly challenge social norms.References Beck, Ulrich, Anthony Giddens, and Scott Lash. Reflexive Modernization: Politics, Tradition and Aesthetics in the Modern Social Order. Cambridge, England: Polity Press in association with Blackwell Publishers, 1994. Bolter, Jay David. "Virtual Reality and the Redefinition of Self." Communication and Cyberspace: Social Interaction in an Electronic Environment. Eds. Ronald L. 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"An Anthropological Introduction to Youtube." 2008. <http://mediatedcultures.net/youtube/an-anthropological-introduction-to-youtube-presented-at-the-library-of-congress/>.Young, Jeffrey R. "An Anthropologist Explores the Culture of Video Blogging. (Michael L. Wesch)." The Chronicle of Higher Education 53.36 (2007).


 
 
 In this pandemic era, beauty vloggers play a significant role, influencing consumer preferences and attitudes. This paper seeks to determine the impact of Reference Groups by beauty vloggers on the purchasing decisions by female students involving skin care products who follow beauty vloggers in Bekasi. The study uses correlational quantitative research, and the objective is to see the extent to which variations in a variable are related to one or more other variables based on the correlation coefficient. The respondent pool was comprised of 100 female students, obtained via purposive sampling. The results showed a significance of 0.000 <0.05. The value of R2 (R square) 0.290 shows the effect of X variable (reference groups) on Y variable (purchase decision) by 29%. The conclusion of this research is that beauty vloggers significantly influence the decision to buy skin care products.
 Keywords: Beauty Vloggers, Purchase Decision, Reference Groups
 
 


 
 
 In this pandemic era, beauty vloggers play a significant role, influencing consumer preferences and attitudes. This paper seeks to determine the impact of Reference Groups by beauty vloggers on the purchasing decisions by female students involving skin care products who follow beauty vloggers in Bekasi. The study uses correlational quantitative research, and the objective is to see the extent to which variations in a variable are related to one or more other variables based on the correlation coefficient. The respondent pool was comprised of 100 female students, obtained via purposive sampling. The results showed a significance of 0.000 <0.05. The value of R2 (R square) 0.290 shows the effect of X variable (reference groups) on Y variable (purchase decision) by 29%. The conclusion of this research is that beauty vloggers significantly influence the decision to buy skin care products.
 Keywords: Beauty Vloggers, Purchase Decision, Reference Groups
 
 

Introduction Media and gender are intricately linked in our society. Every day we see representations of women and men on the screen, read about politicians in the press, watch influencers on YouTube or go to the cinema where we meet screen heroes. Our images and notions of gender draw on these media narratives and role models. Children and young people are socialised with these views and cultivate their own identity and gender roles accordingly. Ideas of gender are not static. They are produced discursively in an ongoing process. Gender is understood as a social category, and this perspective is interwoven with an observation of people’s social behaviour, their “doing gender” (West and Zimmerman). From a social constructivist, the focus lies on the production processes connected with the construction of gender representations through the media. The question of how masculinity and femininity, concepts of “being a man” or “being a woman”, represented on a platform such as YouTube become relevant. Our research interest lies exactly in this: How gender inclusive is the video platform YouTube? Are male and female representations equally visible—or do we find exclusion mechanisms that hinder this? Literature Review Europe-wide studies show that children and adolescents are online for an average of 2.4 hours a day (Hasebrink et al.). Eighty-seven per cent of young people report watching videos (e.g. on YouTube) at least once a week (ibid., 11). This applies for Germany as well (MPFS). Considering the relevance YouTube has for adolescents, the question arises as to which role models are portrayed through YouTube and how diverse the representations of gender are depicted there. Initial analyses, primarily for the English-language YouTube platform, see its potential to counteract gender stereotypes (Maloney et al.), but generally show an unequal visibility of the genders on YouTube. These studies find that women are underrepresented, receive more hostile feedback and present themselves in stereotypical forms (Wotanis and McMillan; Döring; Molyneaux et al.). Döring and Mohseni showed in their current nine-country comparative analysis that men dominate the popular YouTube across countries and women are more likely to give up after hostility. The existing research usually examined the English-language, mainly US YouTube, it analysed gender performance, stereotypes in selected genres such as advertising or gaming, the stigmatisation of obesity, the representation and experiences of black women on YouTube, and the staging of alternative images of masculinity (see Hussin et al.; Kataria and Pandey; Wotanis and McMillan; Casabianca; Maloney et al.; Sobande). Molyneaux et al. noted in their landmark study gender-specific differences: female YouTubers tend to focus on private matters and interact more frequently with their users. Male YouTubers, on the other hand, share opinions and information and avoid emotions (Pedersen and Macafee). In addition, female vloggers are more often criticised for their appearance than for the content of their videos (Molyneaux et al.). Even though YouTube is an international medium, its use remains limited to language and nation. For example, the most popular YouTube stars among German children and young people are predominantly German-speaking influencers or sportsmen and women. In 2019, girls between the ages of 6 and 13 most often name Bibi, Dagi Bee, Shirin David, Lisa & Lena, and Miley; boys at the same age Julien Bam, Gronkh, Die Lochis, LeFloid and Manuel Neuer (IZI). All these are German YouTube or sports stars. YouTube itself shows in its recommendations under the heading “most popular videos in Germany” exclusively German-language videos, music videos, or sporting events (YouTube). Therefore, YouTube also needs to be examined in national contexts, as well as in cross-national context. Our study will focus on the national German context to examine whether there are similar gender differences in the German-speaking YouTube as have been identified for the English-speaking YouTube. For German-speaking YouTube, few studies are available. Döring and Mohseni examined male and female operators of the top 100 YouTube channels in nine different countries. The results show that women make up 25 per cent of the top 100 German YouTube channel operators, a distribution which is similarly uneven in other countries. Usage data shows that the German-speaking YouTube appears to have a greater relevance among boys than girls. Boys (93%) use YouTube more often on a regular basis, than girls (86%), and rank it higher as their favourite app (MPFS). Other than for traditional media such as television or film, where intensive research has for decades shown a wide gender gap in the visibility of women (Prommer and Linke; Linke and Prommer), research on German-speaking YouTube is rare (Döring and Mohseni). Hypotheses In reflection of the research outlined above on representations of gender in media and the stereotypical portrayals of men and women in film and television, we assume that these gender role depictions are carried over into online videos on social media platforms. The fact that girls use YouTube somewhat less often, consider themselves less competent in the necessary Internet skills, and anticipate greater risks related to communicative aspects suggests that female operators might have been held back and that the female perspective might be marginalised in public (self-)portrayals. The following hypotheses will therefore guide our study: H1: Fewer women are channel operators of Germany’s most popular YouTube channels, and they are more limited in their choice of genres. H2: Women are less visible than men in popular YouTube videos. H3: Women portray themselves more often as connected to stereotypically female topics or are depicted as such in videos. H4: Men stage themselves as professionals. Methods and Sample Following these hypotheses, we conducted a two-step research. The first research step was to analyse to what extent women and men produce popular content. For this, we looked at the ratio of female to male YouTubers among the 1,000 most successful German channels. These YouTubers are called either creators or channel operators by the industry. Both terms are used synonymously here. To identify the most popular YouTube channels, we acquired the viewing and ranking data from the market research company Social Blade, which is one of the very few sources for these data. We measured the popularity of the channels by the number of subscribers to a channel. The success of individual videos was measured by individual views. We coded the 1,000 most successful German YouTube channels, with a standardised quantitative content analysis. This method is frequently applied in existing studies on gender representations in YouTube (Döring; Döring and Mohensi). Different to existing research, we looked at a larger number of channels. This quantified analysis was combined with a more qualitative, but still standardised analysis of visibility of gender and concrete content and presentation forms (Prommer and Linke). For the second step we used the Audio-Visual Character Analysis (ACIS) developed by Prommer and Linke as a method that is able to code any audio-visual content in order to describe visibility and diversity of the depicted people. Here, the analysis considered the individual video as the unit of analysis. For 20 videos from each of the top 100 YouTube creators, we chose the 10 of most recent videos plus the 10 videos with the most views to be analysed. In total, 2,000 videos were analysed. For the qualitative analysis, looking at the visibility of gender, we excluded channels operated by institutions, such as radio and TV broadcasters, music labels, and other commercial entities. These were not considered since there is no individual person responsible. We also excluded “Let’s Play” videos, since these often do not show the operator, but only show game play from video games. Results H1: Fewer women are operators of Germany’s most popular YouTube channels, and they are more limited in their choice of genres. As the analyses show, if the non-individual channel operators are included in the statistics, we see that 27 per cent of the top popular channels in Germany are hosted by institutions (270); this leaves 172 channels operated by women (17%), 525 channels by men (53%), and 25 (3%) by mixed-gender teams. Further on, we will only consider the top 1,000 channels produced by one or more individuals; of these, one quarter (24%) of channel operators are female (fig. 1). This shows that, for every channel in the list produced by a woman, three are produced by men. Only three per cent of the channels are produced by men and women together, constituting a mixed-gender team. The YouTube genres, according to the YouTube classification, also show significant gender differences. Women can be seen first and foremost in tutorial channels (women: 61; men: 9). However, because only 24 per cent of channels in which an individual operator could be identified are contributed by women, all other genres except for tutorial channels are produced disproportionally more often by men. Gaming videos are solid male territory, as almost all "Let’s Play" channels are operated by men (women: 6; men: 150). Here, there are 25 men for every one woman who operates a gaming channel. This is particularly remarkable, as women make up 46 per cent of gamers (ISFE), and their underrepresentation can generally not be explained by lack of interest. Men operate channels in a wide variety of other genres, such as music (women: 9; men: 80) and sports (women: 4; men: 20). The genres of comedy, film, and education show only one female operator each—outnumbered from 10 to 1 to as much as 20 to 1. Examining the statistics for men and women separately reveals that men do not only operate the majority of the top 1,000 channels, but they are also visible in a wider variety of genres. Female YouTubers have primarily limited themselves to entertainment channels (50% of all women) and how-to channels (35% of all women). Male channels are more diverse and include entertainment (38% of all men), games (29% of all men), and music (15% of all men), as well as all other genres. Only in tutorial channels men are rarely seen (2%). The genre definitions of the YouTube channels used here are derived from YouTube itself, and these definitions are not in line with other genre theories and are overly broad. Nevertheless, these results confirm the first hypothesis that fewer women are operators of popular YouTube channels, and that women are more limited in their genre diversity. Fig. 1: Gender distribution of the top 1,000 YouTube channel creators—individuals only (n=722) H2: Women are less visible than men in popular YouTube videos. From the list of the top 1,000 channels, the top 100 most successful channels produced by individuals were analysed in more depth. Of these top 100 channels we analysed 20 videos each, for a total of 2,000 videos, for the visibility and appearance of men, women, and non-binary persons. If we count the main protagonists appearing in these 2,000 videos, we see for every woman (979; 29%) more than two men (2,343; 69%). Only two per cent (54) of the people appearing in these videos had a non-binary gender (intersexual, transsexual, or other). Interestingly, this is a similar imbalance as we can detect in television as well (Prommer and Linke). In other categories, there is more diversity than in television: in total, 44 per cent of channel operators have a recognisable “migration background”, which is more commonly seen in men (49%) than in women (32%). “Migration background” is the official German definition of people with a foreign nationality, people not born in Germany, or having parents with these criteria. This confirms the second hypothesis, according to which women are visible in popular Web videos less often than men. H3: Women portray themselves more often in connection to stereotypically female topics or are depicted as such in videos. In the 2,000 videos from the top 100 channels, female YouTubers are primarily visible in service-oriented tutorial channels (on topics like beauty, food, and the household). Female YouTubers are predominantly represented in video blogs (vlogs: 17%), battles/challenges (16%), sketches/parodies (14%), and tutorials (11%). The haul/unboxing format, in which presenters unpack acquired products or gifts, is almost exclusively female. Men are visible in a wide array of formats such as battles/challenges (21%), sketches (17%), and vlogs (14%), including music (9%), opinions/positions (6%), interviews (2%), music parodies (3%), and question-answer formats (2%). The wide range of content produced by male YouTubers, compared to the limited range of female YouTubers, becomes even more obvious when we consider the topics of the individual videos. The results show that men engage with a variety of themes. Women’s topics, on the other hand, are limited: female YouTubers address beauty (30%), food (23%), relationships (23%), fashion and family, as well as household topics (15%). As fig. 2 shows, men present a bigger variety of topics such as music, relationships, family and fashion, and they also address politics (7%), gaming, and much more. The men’s list is significantly more comprehensive (21 topic areas instead of 15). The data thus confirm the third hypothesis, according to which female YouTubers are more often represented in popular videos with stereotypically female themes. It also becomes clear that their spectrum of topics is significantly more limited than that of male actors. Fig. 2: Topic and subject areas of main actors by gender (3,322), statistics for all women and all men; multiple answers possible H4: Men stage themselves as professionals The following results reveal selected characteristics of the staging with which the main female protagonists portray themselves in the 2,000 videos analysed, and which we understand as an expression of professional versus non-professional ability. Female YouTubers appear predominantly in private settings, and their relationships to (almost exclusively male) partners and to their families play a larger role in their appearances than with the male protagonists. Their activities in the videos are described more frequently by the women themselves as personal passions and hobbies, and they rarely discuss their activities as connected to a career. Women talk about their passions, while men thematise their professional abilities. While fewer than a quarter of female YouTubers (22%) address their careers, almost two thirds of men (61%) do so. When looking at hobbies and passions the reverse is true: while only a third of male YouTubers (32%) mention these themes, two thirds of women (64%) create this context in their videos. Also, public spaces and professional contexts are predominantly reserved for male protagonist on YouTube. This means that women shoot their videos in what appears to be their homes or other private environments, while men are also visible in offices or other professional environments (e.g. fitness studios). The settings in which most people are visible on YouTube are private houses and apartments, where most women (71%) and more than half of male actors (57%) are shown. Settings in the public sphere, in contrast, are chosen by male YouTubers twice as often (34%) as by females. This confirms the fourth hypothesis, which states that men communicate and stage themselves as professionals in their videos, measured by the choice of public settings, references to professional activity, and thematisation of emotions. Limitations This study represents a first step toward a quantified analysis of gender portrayals on YouTube. Although a large number of channels and videos were included in the analysis, it is not a comprehensive assessment of all of the most popular videos, nor a random sampling. Limiting the scope to the most popular content necessarily excludes videos that may show alternative content but receive fewer clicks and subscribers. The content analysis does not allow conclusions to be drawn regarding the videos’ actual reception among adolescents. Even though the data prove the platform’s popularity among children and young adults, the audience groups for the individual videos we analysed could not be broken down by sociodemographics. The gender-typical depictions can thus only be understood as an offering; no statements can be made as to their actual acceptance. Discussion The results show that Web videos favourited by children and young adults on the YouTube platform adopt and propagate similar role models to those that previously existed in television and film (Götz et al.). Female channel operators are significantly underrepresented in the most popular videos, they are more limited in their range of topics, and they appear predominantly in and with topics with a stereotypically female connotation. Further, most of women’s (self-)portrayals take place in private settings. Here, the new Web formats have not created a change from classical depictions on television, where women are also predominantly shown in their personal and private lives. Web videos emphasise this aspect, as female actors refer often to their hobbies rather than to their careers, thus characterising their actions as less socially legitimised. This shows that in their favourite new media, too, adolescents encounter traditional gender stereotypes that steer the engagement with gender onto traditional tracks. The actual variety of gender identities and gender roles in real life is not presented in the popular YouTube videos and therefore excluded from the mainstream audience. Clearly, the interplay of the structure of YouTube, the market, and audience demand does not lead to the inclusion and visibility of alternative role models. References Casabianca, Barbara. "YouTube as a Net'Work': A Media Analysis of the YouTube Beauty Community." CUNY Academic Works, 2016. <https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1300/>. Döring, Nicola. “Videoproduktion auf YouTube: Die Bedeutung von Geschlechterbildern.” Handbuch Medien und Geschlecht: Perspektiven und Befunde der Feministischen Kommunikations- und Medienforschung. Eds. Johanna Dorer et al. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien, 2019. 1–11. Döring, Nicola, and M. Rohangis Mohseni. “Male Dominance and Sexism on YouTube: Results of Three Content Analyses.” Feminist Media Studies 19.4 (2019): 512–24. DOI: 10.1080/14680777.2018.1467945. Götz, Maya, et al. “Whose Story Is Being Told? Results of an Analysis of Children's TV in 8 Countries.” TelevIZIon 31 (2018): 61–65. Hasebrink, Uwe, et al. Ergebnisse der EU Kids Online-Befragung in Deutschland 2019: Online-Erfahrungen von 9- bis 17-Jährigen. Hamburg: Verlag Hans-Bredow-Institut, 5 Oct. 2020. <https://www.hans-bredow-institut.de/uploads/media/Publikationen/cms/media/s3lt3j7_EUKO_Bericht_DE_190917.pdf>. 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Linke, Christine, and Elizabeth Prommer. “From Fade-Out into Spotlight: An Audio-Visual Character Analysis (ACIS) on the Diversity of Media Representation and Production Culture.” Studies in Communication Sciences (SComS), forthcoming 2021. Maloney, Marcus, et al. “‘Mmm … I Love It, Bro!’: Performances of Masculinity in YouTube Gaming.” New Media & Society 20.5 (2018): 1697–714. DOI: 10.1177/1461444817703368. Medienpädagogischer Forschungsverbund Südwest (MPFS). JIM Studie 2018: Jugend, Information, Medien: Basisuntersuchung zum Medienumgang 12- bis 19-Jähriger. 1 Jan. 2019. 5 Oct. 2020 <https://www.mpfs.de/fileadmin/files/Studien/JIM/2018/Studie/JIM2018_Gesamt.pdfZ>. Molyneaux, Heather, et al. “Exploring the Gender Divide on YouTube: An Analysis of the Creation and Reception of Vlogs.” American Communication Journal 10.2 (2008). <https://www.it.uu.se/edu/course/homepage/avint/vt09/1.pdf>. Pedersen, Sarah, and Caroline Macafee. “Gender Differences in British Blogging.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 12.4 (2007): 1472–92. DOI: 10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00382.x. Prommer, Elizabeth, and Christine Linke. Ausgeblendet: Frauen im deutschen Film und Fernsehen. Herbert von Halem Verlag, 2019. Sobande, Francesca. “Watching Me Watching You: Black Women in Britain on YouTube.” European Journal of Cultural Studies 20.6 (2017): 655–71. DOI: 10.1177/1367549417733001. West, Candice, and D. H. Zimmerman. “Doing Gender.” Gender and Society 1.2 (1987): 125–51. Wotanis, Lindsey, and Laurie McMillan. “Performing Gender on YouTube.” Feminist Media Studies 14.6 (2014): 912–28. DOI: 10.1080/14680777.2014.882373. YouTube. 23 Oct. 2019 <https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=beliebteste+videos+deutschland>.

We need a clear, unified, and consistent voice to effect the complete dismantling, the abolition, of the mechanisms of animal exploitation.And that will only come from what we say and do, no matter who we are.— Gary L. Francione, animal rights theoristThe history of hashtags is relatively short but littered with the remnants of corporate hashtags which may have seemed a good idea at the time within the confines of the boardroom. It is difficult to understand the rationale behind the use of hashtags as an effective communications tactic in 2019 by corporations when a quick stroll through their recent past leaves behind the much-derided #qantasluxury (Glance), #McDstories (Hill), and #myNYPD (Tran).While hashtags have an obvious purpose in bringing together like-minded publics and facilitating conversation (Kwye et al. 1), they have also regularly been the subject of “hashtag takeovers” by activists and other interested parties, and even by trolls, as the Ecological Society of Australia found in 2015 when their seemingly innocuous #ESA15 hashtag was taken over with pornographic images (news.com.au). Hashtag takeovers have also been used as a dubious marketing tactic, where smaller and less well-known brands tag their products with trending hashtags such as #iphone in order to boost their audience (Social Garden). Hashtags are increasingly used as a way for activists or other interested parties to disrupt a message. It is, I argue, predictable that any hashtag related to an even slightly controversial topic will be subject to some form of activist hashtag takeover, with varying degrees of success.That veganism and the dairy industry should attract such conflict is unsurprising given that the two are natural enemies, with vegans in particular seeming to anticipate and actively engage in the battle for the opposing hashtag.Using a comparative analysis of the #Veganuary and #Februdairy hashtags and how they have been used by both pro-vegan and pro-dairy social media users, this article illustrates that the enthusiastic and well-meaning social media efforts of farmers and dairy supporters have so far been unable to counteract those of well-organised and equally passionate vegan activists. This analysis compares tweets in the first week of the respective campaigns, concluding that organisations, industries and their representatives should be extremely wary of engaging said activists who are not only highly-skilled but are also highly-motivated. Grassroots, ideology-driven activism is a formidable opponent in any public space, let alone when it takes place on the outspoken and unstructured landscape of social media which is sometimes described as the “wild West” (Fitch 5) where anything goes and authenticity and plain-speaking is key (Macnamara 12).I Say Hashtag, You Say Bashtag#Februdairy was launched in 2018 to promote the benefits of dairy. The idea was first mooted on Twitter in 2018 by academic Dr Jude Capper, a livestock sustainability consultant, who called for “28 days, 28 positive dairy posts” (@Bovidiva; Howell). It was a response to the popular Veganuary campaign which aimed to “inspire people to try vegan for January and throughout the rest of the year”, a campaign which had gained significant traction both online and in the traditional media since its inception in 2014 (Veganuary). Hopes were high: “#Februdairy will be one month of dairy people posting, liking and retweeting examples of what we do and why we do it” (Yates). However, the #Februdairy hashtag has been effectively disrupted and has now entered the realm of a bashtag, a hashtag appropriated by activists for their own purpose (Austin and Jin 341).The Dairy Industry (Look Out the Vegans Are Coming)It would appear that the dairy industry is experiencing difficulties in public perception. While milk consumption is declining, sales of plant-based milks are increasing (Kaiserman) and a growing body of health research has questioned whether dairy products and milk in particular do in fact “do a body good” (Saccaro; Harvard Milk Study). In the 2019 review of Canada’s food guide, its first revision since 2007, for instance, the focus is now on eating plant-based foods with dairy’s former place significantly downgraded. Dairy products no longer have their own distinct section and are instead placed alongside other proteins including lentils (Pippus).Nevertheless, the industry has persevered with its traditional marketing and public relations activities, choosing to largely avoid addressing animal welfare concerns brought to light by activists. They have instead focused their message towards countering concerns about the health benefits of milk. In the US, the Milk Processing Education Program’s long-running celebrity-driven Got Milk campaign has been updated with Milk Life, a health focused campaign, featuring images of children and young people living an active lifestyle and taking part in activities such as skateboarding, running, and playing basketball (Milk Life). Interestingly, and somewhat inexplicably, Milk Life’s home page features the prominent headline, “How Milk Can Bring You Closer to Your Loved Ones”.It is somewhat reflective of the current trend towards veganism that tennis aces Serena and Venus Williams, both former Got Milk ambassadors, are now proponents for the plant-based lifestyle, with Venus crediting her newly-adopted vegan diet as instrumental in her recovery from an auto-immune disease (Mango).The dairy industry’s health focus continues in Australia, as well as the use of the word love, with former AFL footballer Shane Crawford—the face of the 2017 campaign Milk Loves You Back, from Lion Dairy and Drinks—focusing on reminding Australians of the reputed nutritional benefits of milk (Dawson).Dairy Australia meanwhile launched their Legendairy campaign with a somewhat different focus, promoting and lauding Australia’s dairy families, and with a message that stated, in a nod to the current issues, that “Australia’s dairy farmers and farming communities are proud, resilient and innovative” (Dairy Australia). This campaign could be perceived as a morale-boosting exercise, featuring a nation-wide search to find Australia’s most legendairy farming community (Dairy Australia). That this was also an attempt to humanise the industry seems obvious, drawing on established goodwill felt towards farmers (University of Cambridge). Again, however, this strategy did not address activists’ messages of suffering animals, factory farms, and newborn calves being isolated from their grieving mothers, and it can be argued that consumers are being forced to make the choice between who (or what) they care about more: animals or the people making their livelihoods from them.Large-scale campaigns like Legendairy which use traditional channels are of course still vitally important in shaping public opinion, with statistics from 2016 showing 85.1% of Australians continue to watch free-to-air television (Roy Morgan, “1 in 7”). However, a focus and, arguably, an over-reliance on traditional platforms means vegans and animal activists are often unchallenged when spreading their message via social media. Indeed, when we consider the breakdown in age groups inherent in these statistics, with 18.8% of 14-24 year-olds not watching any commercial television at all, an increase from 7% in 2008 (Roy Morgan, “1 in 7”), it is a brave and arguably short-sighted organisation or industry that relies primarily on traditional channels to spread their message in 2019. That these large-scale campaigns do little to address the issues raised by vegans concerning animal welfare leaves these claims largely unanswered and momentum to grow.This growth in momentum is fuelled by activist groups such as the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) who are well-known in this space, with 5,494,545 Facebook followers, 1.06 million Twitter followers, 973,000 Instagram followers, and 453,729 You Tube subscribers (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). They are also active on Pinterest, a visual-based platform suited to the kinds of images and memes particularly detrimental to the dairy industry. Although widely derided, PETA’s reach is large. A graphic video posted to Facebook on February 13 2019 and showing a suffering cow, captioned “your cheese is not worth this” was shared 1,244 times, and had 4.6 million views in just over 24 hours (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). With 95% of 12-24 year olds in Australia now using social networking sites (Statista), it is little wonder veganism is rapidly growing within this demographic (Bradbury), with The Guardian labelling the rise of veganism unstoppable (Hancox).Activist organisations are joined by prominent and charismatic vegan activists such as James Aspey (182,000 Facebook followers) and Earthling Ed (205,000 Facebook followers) in distributing information and images that are influential and often highly graphic or disturbing. Meanwhile Instagram influencers and You Tube lifestyle vloggers such as Ellen Fisher and FreeLee share information promoting vegan food and the vegan lifestyle (with 650,320 and 785,903 subscribers respectively). YouTube video Dairy Is Scary has over 5 million views (Janus) and What the Health, a follow-up documentary to Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret, promoting veganism, is now available on Netflix, which itself has 9.8 million Australian subscribers (Roy Morgan, “Netflix”). BOSH’s plant-based vegan cookbook was the fastest selling cookbook of 2018 (Chiorando).Additionally, the considerable influence of celebrities such as Miley Cyrus, Beyonce, Alicia Silverstone, Zac Efron, and Jessica Chastain, to name just a few, speaking publicly about their vegan lifestyle, encourages veganism to become mainstream and increases its widespread acceptance.However not all the dairy industry’s ills can be blamed on vegans. Rising costs, cheap imports, and other pressures (Lockhart, Donaghy and Gow) have all placed pressure on the industry. Nonetheless, in the battle for hearts and minds on social media, the vegans are leading the way.Qualitative research interviewing new vegans found converting to veganism was relatively easy, yet some respondents reported having to consult multiple resources and required additional support and education on how to be vegan (McDonald 17).Enter VeganuaryUsing a month, week or day to promote an idea or campaign, is a common public relations and marketing strategy, particularly in health communications. Dry July and Ocsober both promote alcohol abstinence, Frocktober raises funds for ovarian cancer, and Movember is an annual campaign raising awareness and funds for men’s health (Parnell). Vegans Matthew Glover and Jane Land were discussing the success of Movember when they raised the idea of creating a vegan version. Their initiative, Veganuary, urging people to try vegan for the month of January, launched in 2014 and since then 500,000 people have taken the Veganuary pledge (Veganuary).The Veganuary website is the largest of its kind on the internet. With vegan recipes, expert advice and information, it provides all the answers to Why go vegan, but it is the support offered to answer How to go vegan that truly sets Veganuary apart. (Veganuary)That Veganuary participants would use social media to discuss and share their experiences was a foregone conclusion. Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are all utilised by participants, with the official Veganuary pages currently followed/liked by 159,000 Instagram followers, receiving 242,038 Facebook likes, and 45,600 Twitter followers (Veganuary). Both the Twitter and Instagram sites make effective use of hashtags to spread their reach, not only using #Veganuary but also other relevant hashtags such as #TryVegan, #VeganRecipes, and the more common #Vegan, #Farm, and #SaveAnimals.Februdairy Follows Veganuary, But Only on the CalendarCalling on farmers and dairy producers to create counter content and their own hashtag may have seemed like an idea that would achieve an overall positive response.Agricultural news sites and bloggers spread the word and even the BBC reported on the industry’s “fight back” against Veganuary (BBC). However the hashtag was quickly overwhelmed with anti-dairy activists mobilising online. Vegans issued a call to arms across social media. The Vegans in Australia Facebook group featured a number of posts urging its 58,949 members to “thunderclap” the Februdairy hashtag while the Project Calf anti-dairy campaign declared that Februdairy offered an “easy” way to spread their information (Sandhu).Februdairy farmers and dairy supporters were encouraged to tell their stories, sharing positive photographs and videos, and they did. However this content was limited. In this tweet (fig. 1) the issue of a lack of diverse content was succinctly addressed by an anti-Februdairy activist.Fig. 1: Content challenges. (#Februdairy, 2 Feb. 2019)MethodUtilising Twitter’s advanced search capability, I was able to search for #Veganuary tweets from 1 to 7 January 2019 and #Februdairy tweets from 1 to 7 February 2019. I analysed the top tweets provided by Twitter in terms of content, assessed whether the tweet was pro or anti Veganuary and Februdairy, and also categorised its content in terms of subject matter.Tweets were analysed to assess whether they were on message and aligned with the values of their associated hashtag. Veganuary tweets were considered to be on message if they promoted veganism or possessed an anti-dairy, anti-meat, or pro-animal sentiment. Februdairy tweets were assessed as on message if they promoted the consumption of dairy products, expressed sympathy or empathy towards the dairy industry, or possessed an anti-vegan sentiment. Tweets were also evaluated according to their clarity, emotional impact and coherence. The overall effectiveness of the hashtag was then evaluated based on the above criteria as well as whether they had been hijacked.Results and FindingsOverwhelmingly, the 213 #Veganuary tweets were on message. That is they were pro-Veganuary, supportive of veganism, and positive. The topics were varied and included humorous memes, environmental facts, information about the health benefits of veganism, as well as a strong focus on animals. The number of non-graphic tweets (12) concerning animals was double that of tweets featuring graphic or shocking imagery (6). Predominantly the tweets were focused on food and the sharing of recipes, with 44% of all pro #Veganuary tweets featuring recipes or images of food. Interestingly, a number of well-known corporations tweeted to promote their vegan food products, including Tesco, Aldi, Iceland, and M&S. The diversity of veganism is reflected in the tweets. Organisations used the hashtag to promote their products, including beauty and shoe products, social media influencers promoted their vegan podcasts and blogs, and, interestingly, the Ethiopian Embassy of the United Kingdom tweeted their support.There were 23 (11%) anti-Veganuary tweets. Of these, one was from Dr. Jude Capper, the founder of Februdairy. The others expressed support for farming and farmers, and a number were photographs of meat products, including sausages and fry-ups. One Australian journalist tweeted in favour of meat, stating it was yummy murder. These tweets could be described as entertaining and may perhaps serve as a means of preaching to the converted, but their ability to influence and persuade is negligible.Twitter’s search tool provided access to 141 top #Februdairy tweets. Of these 82 (52%) were a hijack of the hashtag and overtly anti-Februdairy. Vegan activists used the #Februdairy hashtag to their advantage with most of their tweets (33%) featuring non-graphic images of animals. They also tweeted about other subject matters, including environmental concerns, vegan food and products, and health issues related to dairy consumption.As noted by the activists (see fig. 1 above), most of the pro-Februdairy tweets were images of milk or dairy products (41%). Images of farms and farmers were the next most used (26%), followed by images of cows (17%) (see fig. 2). Fig. 2: An activist makes their anti-Februdairy point with a clear, engaging image and effective use of hashtags. (#Februdairy, 6 Feb. 2019)The juxtaposition between many of the tweets was also often glaring, with one contrasting message following another (see fig. 3). Fig. 3: An example of contrasting #Februdairy tweets with an image used by the activists to good effect, making their point known. (#Februdairy, 2 Feb. 2019)Storytelling is a powerful tool in public relations and marketing efforts. Yet, to be effective, high-quality content is required. That many of the Februdairy proponents had limited social media training was evident; images were blurred, film quality was poor, or they failed to make their meaning clear (see fig. 4). Fig. 4: A blurred photograph, reflective of some of the low-quality content provided by Februdairy supporters. (#Februdairy, 3 Feb. 2019)This image was tweeted in support of Februdairy. However the image and phrasing could also be used to argue against Februdairy. We can surmise that the tweeter was suggesting the cow was well looked after and seemingly content, but overall the message is as unclear as the image.While some pro-Februdairy supporters recognised the need for relevant hashtags, often their images were of a low-quality and not particularly engaging, a requirement for social media success. This requirement seems to be better understood by anti-Februdairy activists who used high-quality images and memes to create interest and gain the audience’s attention (see figs. 5 and 6). Fig. 5: An uninspiring image used to promote Februdairy. (#Februdairy, 6 Feb. 2019) Fig. 6: Anti-Februdairy activists made good use of memes, recognising the need for diverse content. (#Februdairy, 3 Feb. 2019)DiscussionWhat the #Februdairy case makes clear, then, is that in continuing its focus on traditional media, the dairy industry has left the battle online to largely untrained, non-social media savvy supporters.From a purely public relations perspective, one of the first things we ask our students to do in issues and crisis communication is to assess the risk. “What can hurt your organisation?” we ask. “What potential issues are on the horizon and what can you do to prevent them?” This is PR101 and it is difficult to understand why environmental scanning and resulting action has not been on the radar of the dairy industry long before now. It seems they have not fully anticipated or have significantly underestimated the emerging issue that public perception, animal cruelty, health concerns, and, ultimately, veganism has had on their industry and this is to their detriment. In Australia in 2015–16 the dairy industry was responsible for 8 per cent (A$4.3 billion) of the gross value of agricultural production and 7 per cent (A$3 billion) of agricultural export income (Department of Agriculture and Water Resources). When such large figures are involved and with so much at stake, it is hard to rationalise the decision not to engage in a more proactive online strategy, seeking to engage their publics, including, whether they like it or not, activists.Instead there are current attempts to address these issues with a legislative approach, lobbying for the introduction of ag-gag laws (Potter), and the limitation of terms such as milk and cheese (Worthington). However, these measures are undertaken while there is little attempt to engage with activists or to effectively counter their claims with a widespread authentic public relations campaign, and reflects a failure to understand the nature of the current online environment, momentum, and mood.That is not to say that the dairy industry is not operating in the online environment, but it does not appear to be a priority, and this is reflected in their low engagement and numbers of followers. For instance, Dairy Australia, the industry’s national service body, has a following of only 8,281 on Facebook, 6,981 on Twitter, and, crucially, they are not on Instagram. Their Twitter posts do not include hashtags and unsurprisingly they have little engagement on this platform with most tweets attracting no more than two likes. Surprisingly they have 21,013 subscribers on YouTube which featured professional and well-presented videos. This demonstrates some understanding of the importance of effective storytelling but not, as yet, trans-media storytelling.ConclusionSocial media activism is becoming more important and recognised as a legitimate voice in the public sphere. Many organisations, perhaps in recognition of this as well as a growing focus on responsible corporate behaviour, particularly in the treatment of animals, have adjusted their behaviour. From Unilever abandoning animal testing practices to ensure Dove products are certified cruelty free (Nussbaum), to Domino’s introducing vegan options, companies who are aware of emerging trends and values are changing the way they do business and are reaping the benefits of engaging with, and catering to, vegans. Domino’s sold out of vegan cheese within the first week and vegans were asked to phone ahead to their local store, so great was the demand. From their website:We knew the response was going to be big after the demand we saw for the product on social media but we had no idea it was going to be this big. (Domino’s Newsroom)As a public relations professional, I am baffled by the dairy industry’s failure to adopt a crisis-based strategy rather than largely rely on the traditional one-way communication that has served them well in the previous (golden?) pre-social media age. However, as a vegan, persuaded by the unravelling of the happy cow argument, I cannot help but hope this realisation continues to elude them.References@bovidiva. “Let’s Make #Februdairy Happen This Year. 28 Days, 28 Positive #dairy Posts. From Cute Calves and #cheese on Crumpets, to Belligerent Bulls and Juicy #beef #burgers – Who’s In?” Twitter post. 15 Jan. 2018. 1 Feb. 2019 <https://twitter.com/bovidiva/status/952910641840447488?lang=en>.Austin, Lucinda L., and Yan Jin. Social Media and Crisis Communication. 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