How does my media product represent particular social groups?

Front cover Contents page Double page spread

General overview of my media product and the social groups it represents

Pop is a genre that I believe is liked by the majority of people. This is where the origin of pop music comes from because it derives from the word “popular”. This is useful because I am designing a magazine for the mass market. However I wanted to cater for a specific target audience because then you can target their needs rather than trying to please everyone. I chose the age group 13-19 because I am seventeen and I can use my preferences to help provide their needs. I am expecting other ages to purchase my magazine though because the content is interesting and the magazine looks like it caters for all ages. The gender is mainly female although I would argue males enjoy the genre too and I believe more pop artists are emerging that appeal to males as well as females. Examples include Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith. I have outlined my desire to create a magazine that appeals to both genders in my research. I feel the ethnicity will be mostly white people and the class would be middle class. This is because lower classes are associated with RnB and rap and the upper class are associated with classical music.

My model is sixteen so is in the middle of my target audience. This means he appeals to people of that age group. His black jumper and t-shirt is something you would expect people interested in the pop genre to wear because it is very casual and laid back. These clothes are reasonably priced so they can be worn by my middle class target audience.

These are artists that teenagers often enjoy listening to. These are predominately white people who come from middle class backgrounds. This is because all of these artists featured are white so they can relate to them more. I have used words like “fave” which is an example of colloquial language because it is often used by the target audience of this magazine.

Gigs can be quite expensive so this relates to a middle class background as those from lower classes may not be able to afford it. This doesn’t really suggest an age as you can go with a guardian if you are under the age of sixteen. Although the word “gig” is quite a commonly used word by teenagers as they prefer it to words like “concert.” This is a feature that will really interest people around the age of sixteen because concerts are really exciting as you get to see your favourite artists perform in front of you.

This price is very affordable. Those within my target audience will probably be spending their pocket money or those towards the older end of my audience may be spending the money they receive from a part time job. This is likely to be a small amount. My focus group said they would happily pay around this price and they represented my target audience. All ethnicities and social classes could afford this. It could be argued that girls have more items to spend their money on for example make up and clothes so this price will also appeal to them because it doesn’t take a significant part of their money away.

This masthead is really bright and eye-catching. This mainly appeals to a teenage audience and is unlikely to be something that those older than about 20 will like. The colours I used are specifically chosen because I wanted to appeal to both genders .

The microphone is an old- fashioned pop microphone. This appeals to fans of the pop genre and a lot of people have had aspirations at some point in their life to sing into a microphone like this. Also the acoustic guitar clearly indicates the pop genre as this is the genre of music they are most commonly used in.

All of the images are of teenagers which suggests my magazine is targeted at people around that age. People like reading and learning about people of a similar age to them because often they are their role models and they have aspirations to be like them. Different ethnicities are shown and there are a similar amount of each gender.

Technology is mostly used by the teenage audience so this aspect of the contents page represents them. This targets all social groups because social media is very inclusive as everyone can choose to do it.

This offer recognises that my target audience probably do not have lots of money to spend. I believe that they like to save money where they can and they will be interested by this offer. It could be argued this targets lower class people the most because they have the least money to spend but I feel that all people like saving money no matter how wealthy they are. This also makes it more convenient to get each issue. For example disability is perhaps represented here because going to a shop can be hard for them so by receiving this magazine through the post it is less stressful.

The features appeal to teenagers of both genders and all social classes because colloquial language is used. Words like “freshest” are not really used by older people. If you use words like this then you feel the content inside will represent your needs more and it will be more appropriate for you.

By including this grab quote, I am representing the artists fans. His fans are mainly teenagers but both males and females look up to him. Everybody can read this double page spread but a little section of it is representing his fans.

The unglamorous wall behind the artist signifies the hard work that he has had to put in. People believe pop artists have a really easy lifestyle and didn’t have to work hard to get to where they are. This artists is representing everybody who works very hard whether they be a student trying hard in education or a builder working overtime.

The article mentions a guitar several times and this is something that only middle class or upper class readers are likely to have had . This also represents the skilled and hard working audience because learning an instrument takes hour of practise and determination.

There is quite a substantial amount of text. I did this because I didn’t want to undermine my audience who often enjoy reading and that was the feedback I got from my research. This perhaps doesn’t represent the working class who often do not enjoy reading as much as the classes above them and also maybe may appeal less to males who often prefer to look at the pictures and only quickly read the text.

This text about following the artist on twitter will appeal to all audiences because anyone can have twitter if they have the technology to do so. Teenagers and those around the age of twenty one often spend the most time on twitter and other social networking sites so it is likely this appeals mostly to them.