Mercedes Jefferson
10/8/13
English 111 The New CoverGirl
In the midst of her fight against cancer, 13 year old Talia Castellano is presented on the front of the new Cover Girl Spring 2013 edition. Talia is featured after a long line of supermodels, celebrities and beauty queens that stamped the covers before her. Castellano was diagnosed with cancer at age 7 and has been an inspiration leader ever since. She has gained her fame by inspiring little girls around the world through her viral YouTube videos of makeup up tutorials and her life coping with cancer. Some of her videos even reached 15 million views. She hoped that they would help girls like her to learn to love themselves and gain hope while facing their diseases. She has no hair at the time the picture is taken, yet Talia is shown smiling and glowing with happiness. Cover Girl managed to capture the natural beauty of Talia, current cancer patient at the time, with in their spring edition advertisement. This picture is iconic because different aspects of the picture showcase how beautiful Talia is despite her cancer while reaching out to young girls struggling with cancer and low self-esteem.
An iconic image always represents a bigger picture and is something that is never forgotten among the people of the culture that it touches, that is exactly why this picture of Talia is iconic. This image represents the strength it takes to fight cancer and to feel beautiful while doing it. The millions of little girls insecure about their loss of hair are represented and given a new perspective on themselves and their appearance. The image is practically a flag for the cancer fighting community.
The colors and lighting used in this particular ad work together to create a gloomy yet light feel. The image consists of mostly dark colors. Deep purples, greys, and black make up the entire background of the ad. Purple is typically used to create a gloomy or sad mood from an audience. Black is often used to help the focus image stand out. In the middle of the dark background, Talia is shown with a natural looking light around her creating a glow effect. By adding light particularly around Talia, the creator of the image added airiness to the overall advertisement. Its’ expected that the audience will associate the light with health and happiness. The lighting around Talia paired with Talia smiling helps the audience to understand that the image isn’t meant to be sad, but uplifting. “CoverGirl Talia” is written across the top of the ad in white letters, recognizing Talia as the new face of their business. The purpose of the image is to inspire it’s audience and I think that the ad does a great job doing that. The audience consists of girls struggling with cancer and or self-esteem issues and their supporters. The image is bluntly telling the audience that Talia is beautiful even in the face of her life threatening condition. The picture doesn’t show Talia in a hospital bed crying and in pain. If it did, a sense of hope for kids with cancer wouldn’t have been uplifted. So instead, a picture of Talia smiling and seemingly healthy is used to show that she’s doing well. This way, it becomes easier for the audience to feel better about their situation when relating to what Talia is facing with a smile.
How and where Talia is positioned also adds to the powerful feel of the of the image. Talia is photographed from shoulders up for a reason. This was to make sure that there was emphasis on her face and expression. A close up shot creates a more personal interpretation an connection from the audience. The image would have been less impactful if it had been a full length shot or further away. The choice to make it a close up shot was a big part of what made the image as powerful. In addition, Talia being displayed on the cover rather than inside of the magazine also made an impact. Being on the front of a magazine
