How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Gender RepresentationThe front page and double page spread of my magazine features the same male character, the guitarist from the featured band, RHCP. On both pages, the male character is mostly shown bare-chested

Although my article is interesting and informative, the photographs used treat the musician as a sex object. It is intended to appeal to a mainly hetero-sexual female audience

This is a reversal the stereotypical photos used of female musicians in music magazines aimed at a male audience such as NME.

Gender RepresentationThe contents page features 3 female characters and a male character. The females are fully clothed, unlike the male.

Overall, the photographic gender representation in my magazine is 3 female:2 male.

The articles listed on the contents page are designed to appeal mainly to females.

There is an article on fashion, the lead article uses the double meaning of the word “Hot” to imply sexy guy and another article refers to “muscly music men hitting the gym”, again sexualising the male musicians.

Age Representation

All of the characters I have used in my magazine are in my target age range of 16 – 24 years. They are all stereotypically attractive young people. The girls are wearing the latest high street fashions. They have flawless skin and perfect make up. The lads have up to the minute hair styles.

This matches the expectations of my reader profile, who likes to look good and cares about fashion.

However, I would not rule out using older characters, such as Noel Gallagher, as long as they are cool and fit the Alternative/Indie/Rock genre that my audience identifies with.

Class Representation

It’s hard to tell class from photos of young people but looking at the quality clothes, stylish make up, and fashionable hair styles, it would seem that my magazine characters come from middle class homes with money to spare.

My magazine was aimed at middle class young people who have a higher standard of education and are more likely to be well off. They will either be working full-time or be students with part-time jobs. Their parents are more likely to have well-paid office jobs. I think that the characters in my magazine fit in with this image.

Ethnic RepresentationThe ethnic breakdown of the characters featured in my magazine is 100% white.

This was not a design or research-based decision. It is just because I did not know anyone of other ethnic backgrounds who was prepared to be a model. I live in York which is not a very multi-cultural city.

However, I visualise my target audience as mainly middle class which means that they are more likely to be white.

For some reason, ethnic minorities are also under-represented in Rock and Indie music. Most UK Indie bands are white, (Kasabian is an exception) so my target audience will expect to see mostly white bands featured in AIrwaves.

Why my audience would use my magazine?

Information • seeking advice on practical matters or

opinion and decision choices • satisfying curiosity and general interest

Personal Identity • identifying with valued other (in the media)

Integration and Social Interaction • finding a basis for conversation and social

interaction

Entertainment • relaxing• getting intrinsic cultural or aesthetic

enjoyment

This suggests a representation of my audience as group who use my magazine for their own enjoyment and to keep up to date so that they are able to hold informed conversations about shared cultural interests when relaxing with their own circle of friends.