Question 2

1. How does your media
product represent particular
social groups?

2. The denoted target readership for my indie/rock
magazine ‘UNDISCOVERED’ is going to be mainly
aimed at white males aged 15 – 25 (Hartley). I have
achieved this by including rock artists such as Decade,
Paramore and My Chemical Romance in order to appease
the stereotypical interests of this demographic. I believe
that this will attract similar social groups to ‘KERRANG!’
as the content within the magazine is similar.
Anti – stereotypically the magazine can appeal toward
men and women of multiple ethnicities beyond the
stereotypical ethic profile as stated earlier, which could
do this by including bands which have female members
and/or black males or females for future issues.

3. The front cover of my magazine has a main
image of Oscar Santos holding a guitar,
looking away (acting very chilled out) and
wearing indie-associated clothing. The non-
verbal code of the main image would appeal
to the stereotypical reader profile of this
magazine due to the clothing, which is being
worn in the main image as it is very similar to
what the stereotypical reader would wear
which would draw in the reader. Clothing
related to this type of style and genre
suggests people who wear the similar kind of
clothing are into the same types of music and
activities.
Front cover

4. Also due to how Oscar is posing it would also attract
the stereotypical reader as he is conveying a very
chilled look and appears not too bothered about
anything. This would appeal to the stereotypical reader
as this is how the reader would act and feel about
certain things.

5. Linked to this body language the non-verbal
code of the facial expression could be
interpreted as a serious image meaning that
Oscar is serious and passionate about playing
rock music. This would appeal to the readership
as they are people who will be serious about
their genre and will want artists to be serious
about creating the music they listen to.

6. As this is the first issue I want to build a strong
connection with the audience; I believe that
placing an image which conveys seriousness
about the music will draw in an audience to this
magazine as it connotes the publications passion
for this genre of music.

7. In the main image you can’t clearly see a
hair style, but the hat can act as a
replacement for a hair style in this
genre, which again could be worthy of
the stereotypical iconography
associated to this genre.

8. The cover line artists are
well associated to the
stereotypes of this genre
which would also attract the
readers as the names are
well-known (‘star appeal’ –
Richard Dyer) in the genre
which would appeal to this
social group.

9. The font style that I have used also can connote
and signify edgy personalities that the
stereotypical reader that I am trying to attract
would also have.

10. As the age group of which my magazine
is trying to attract, people from this age
group are more likely to have the social
media of which the magazine will also
be marketed on, which will help with
collecting a readership as they may
come across the magazine when they
use these social media’s daily.

11. Lastly the price of the magazine is on the front
cover can be denoted as £1.99, as the particular
chosen social group which is associated with this
genre do not earn a lot of money, I had to make the
price affordable to attract as wide a readership as
possible.

12. My main task contents page is
full of well-known artists which
will appeal to my target
audience as they are famous
and should be known to the
stereotypical reader.
Contents Page

13. Informal language for example “jam
packed” is also used within text on
this page, which will help clearly
represent the particular social group
‘UNDISCOVERED’ is aiming at as the
readership will have a clearer
understanding on what the magazine
is trying to convey to them, and also
most people from the socio-
economic needs groups ‘C-D’ will be
used to the language presented and
it will not be alien to the readers.

14. The colour scheme used on this page
replicates the same consistent purple used
on the front cover and also a dull grey. This
colour scheme I used is to reflect the music
genre as grey can be used to describe the
rebellious side of my music genre which is
quite popular; and the purple is there to
represent new kinds of music presented in
this genre such as ‘Oscar Santos’ who is the
first rocker with an acoustic guitar. As most
of the music from this genre is mainly
associated with rebellious types of people,
who are mostly not in favour with bright
colours, this is the reason why I chose to
have most of the page to be grey and only
allowed the top of the page to be purple.
This will help represent my chosen social
group as dull colours are what they are
used to and are very familiar with.

15. Iconography is also used to
represent particular social
groups, this is because the
guitar used in the main image
could please the eye of the
readers which in turn could
also appease the readers
music tastes.

16. In the DPS interview with the main cover artist he
uses a lot of slang, informal and abusive
language, for example “f*cking ape”. This will
help represent the tastes of my chosen aimed
social group as this is the language they are more
likely to encounter daily. This will also help target
my chosen social group as the main cover artist
has clearly come from the same social group due
to his responses to some of the interview
questions. This will allow the readership to be
comfortable in what they are reading as it is what
they are used to in terms of the in-formality
represented in the interview. Language can be
used to clearly determine the social group
someone has come from, or belong to; for
example Oscar’s shock to how successful he is,
and living a wealthy life which is something he is
not used to “I just can’t believe where I am right
now”.
DPS

17. The non-verbal code of the main
background image could also
represent the social group I am
aiming at; this is because the
clothing that Oscar is wearing is
the clothing that people from this
social group wear, which means
they are very familiar to the
clothing which will clearly help
represent the social group I am
aiming at.

18. Lastly, synergy with the artists
social media links are placed,
this is because it makes the DPS
more appealing, this is because
the social media links allow the
reader to look at their social
media and look at what the
artist is up to, and they can also
keep track of what the artist is
up to.

19. Stereotypes
Source: worditout.com