1. EVALUATION: Q2 - How does our
media product represent particular
social groups?

2. I targeted my magazine at the younger demographic. This age group ranges from teenagers to late teens (17 - 25
year olds.)
Teenagers have an extremely negative dominant representation in media. Teenagers are portrayed negatively
through movies, the news, dramas, radio etc - which has built up a prejudice representation of them being;
aggressive, unruly and reckless. The image attached to this post is taken from a TV series called Skins; a very
controversial TV series that focuses on a group of British teenagers who represent the different stereotypes of
teenagers, throughout the series the teenagers have underage sex, do drugs, drink, fight, and get into trouble with
the law - which all contributes to the way teenagers are represented and perceived by the rest of society. An
example of the media choosing to only highlight the negative behavior of teenagers is with the news, the biggest
recent event regarding negative teenage behavior was the London riots. This significantly hindered the teenager
representation across Britain and strengthened the negative stereotypes and connotations of teenagers.

3. There are magazines that support this representation - taking KERRANG! magazine for example, the choice of
font, colour, images and writing attitude all conform to this representation, which is important to KERRANG! because
its their way of connecting with their specific target audience. I however have chosen to challenge this dominant
representation of teenagers by portraying them in a positive, clean cut fashion - from the way my models are dressed
to the attitude I wrote the article in .
Looking at the front cover you can see that the representation my magazine creates is an alternative to the
stereotypical dominant representation of teenagers. I decided to dress Stevie in a Paul Smith Shirt and told him to
wear some foundation, this metrosexual representation of teenage boys challenges the reckless representation that is
created through other media products such as; KERRANG! magazine, skins and even the news which represent
teenagers in two main ways; reckless and careless about their bodies - taking drugs, drinking and partying all of the
time. Or spotty and geeky - not into fashion and a house recluse, gaming for most of their life.
My representation also implies that teenagers can be successful and ambitious as my on double page spread Stevie
says he has been ‘‘signing and performing’’ since he can remember and all of his life he has ‘‘wanted to be a music
artist’’ - this challenges the representation that implies teenagers are unambitious and carless about education and
work.
My magazine has created its own dominant representation of teenagers which reflects its audience. My
representation tells you that the target audience take care in their appearance, are ambitious with education and
being successful yet still conform to the medias dominant representation of teenagers - enjoying going out and
partying (gigs and concerts.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1HRLlNBHJs
Contextual teenage representation: