1. Critical Analysis
I am going to look at football magazines in how they are
represented, as well as looking at the genre characteristics. I have
decided to analyse Four four two, Match and Match of the day. In
terms of general representation, the vast majority of the front covers
are occupied by a positive image. When it comes to Four four two
they tend to look to one specific footballer to be their cover star. This
magazine is much more formal than the other two, so therefore it is
more frequent that the cover stars look serious and mean business.
Match of the Day is also similar in style in the fact that they
frequently have one specific player to sell their magazine. Once again
these are positive representations as they are shown to be either
happy or focused. It must be noted though that Match Of The Day is
targeted at kids rather than Four four two’s target audience of
teenagers and adults. This is shown as it is presented in a much more
informal format in terms of how much content is displayed on the
front cover. Match magazine is the least formal of the magazines and
is aimed at kids. Unlike the other two magazines they don’t tend to
focus on one footballer and often look at multiple ones to anchor
their magazine. Instead of still shots of the players looking focused,
Match usually show a live action shot of the player. The magazine
will do this as kids will find this more interesting.
In terms of the age of people shown in the age of the magazine they
tend to range from 17 to 35 which is the average career span of a
professional footballer. In rare cases, Four four two sometimes
feature managers but in general all 3 magazines show footballers of
this age range. In Four four two’s case their target audience matches
up with their target audience as their average reader varies from 16
to 34. However, when it comes to the other magazines their target
audience’s do not reflect with the age range of the people shown in
the magazines. Match and Match of the day are targeted at kids and
this is shown in the average of their reader. The stars in Match and
2. Match of the day are shown more informally than Four Four Two to
coincide with their target audience.
Football magazines have a clear target gender of males. The
magazines represent this gender by showing males on the front
cover all the time. Like I have previously mentioned Four four two
tend to primarily focus on one specific football to lead their
magazine, but there have been examples in the past where they
have looked at specific teams such as Klopp’s Dortmund team. This is
an example of a formal group and they have also looked at out
groups in the past where they have looked at out groups where show
rivalry between players in comparison articles. Match of the day and
Match tend to look for rivalries to head their magazine which
dominates their social representation.
Because these magazines are all of the same genre, they often focus
on very similar content. In terms of the pictures shown, Four four
twos tend to be more formal than Match and Match of the day’s. All
3 magazines feature a lot of interviews with players talking about
their career, as well as life off the pitch plus features on upcoming
tournaments and player of the season accolades. When it comes to
advertisements Four four two and the other two alter drastically. The
style of these magazines is fairly easy to recognise. Four four two is
the most distinguished out of the 3 and this is proven by their target
audience of 16-34. The other two magazines are formatted in a
much more simplistic style. Finally, in terms of the cultural aspect,
the people who read these magazines have their own cultural
understanding about football. The wording of Four four two is much
more accomplished and include phrases that kids will not be aware
of. Match of the day and Match use much more simplistic terms
which reaffirms their target audience. These magazines also reflect
their target audience in terms of how in depth each magazine is, with
the most formal magazine having twice as many pages and feature
much more in depth articles. On the other hand, Match and Match of
the day use a lot more images and put less attention into text.
