The document discusses how the media product, an indie magazine, represents various social groups including gender, age, ethnicity, class, and lifestyle. Regarding gender, the magazine aims to appeal to both male and female readers through a balanced representation of genders. In terms of age, the target audience is 17-25 year olds, who are portrayed positively through the talented musician on the cover. Ethnically, the magazine represents the predominantly white indie genre. In terms of class, it targets middle and upper-middle classes who can afford the magazine's price point. Lifestyle-wise, it depicts the audience as engaged with music, technology, and attending concerts and festivals.

1. H OW D OES YOU R M ED I A
PR OD U CT R EPR ES EN T
PA R TI CU L A R S OCI A L
GR OU PS ?

2. S OCI A L GR OU PS
“A social group is a group of people
who interact with one another and
share similar characteristics such as
age, ethnicity, class, interests and
gender. Collectively, they have a
sense of unity.”

3. GEN D ER
My media product is a fairly uni-sex magazine and would appeal to
both male and female readers of the indie genre. There is a
balance between both genders and doesn’t contain any content
associated with male or female stereotypes. The boy on the cover
would attract both male and female interest. The male audience
could feel like they relate to the person, while the females would
possibly be attracted to the cover in terms of sex appeal, which
has been proven to be a key influence in the sale of media
products. The indie genre as a whole is a mix of both male and
females. My product represents them as people who don’t mind
the gender of the artist, they are interested in the music more than
the appearance, and are therefore represented as quite chilled out
people. Q magazine has a range of male and female artists on the
cover of it’s magazine and aren’t posing in a sexual way to attract
more readers which reinforces this representation Other reasons it
is diverse is the colour scheme, it is black white and orange which
are colours that are fairly gender neutral which wouldn’t affect the
readers attraction to the magazine. I feel the black and white
tones has a ‘timeless’ feel about it that I think represents indie
people in terms of their style. Although they are interested in new
and current music, They seem to wear whatever they like from

4. A GE
The age bracket that my magazine targets is between the ages of
17 to 25 year olds. Although there are some negative stereotypes
associated with both male and female young adults, such as being
rude and lazy, I feel that my magazine eliminates these stereotypes
and represents young people in a more positive way. The boy on
the cover of the magazine looks like he is towards the lower end of
the target age range, but I see this as a positive thing as, despite
his age, he is a successful musician with a guitar, implying that he is
good at this instrument and generally has a well established career
already if he has made it onto the cover of a magazine. I think that
it represents the indie group of people to be talented. Also he is
smiling which implies a friendly nature of him and the social group.
The use of a younger person also represents the music as being
fresh and current, which clearly establishes who the magazine is
aimed at. Including festivals also implies that they go out and
pursue their interests, which represents them as being quite
passionate and devoted to their musical taste and what they enjoy.

5. ETH N I CI TY
The people who are included in the indie genre are mainly
white Caucasian people due to the predominant white
Caucasian indie bands and artists. I feel that the audience
are more likely to listen to an ethnicity that they are apart
of as they can possibly relate to them more. Of course, my
magazine is open to any ethnicity, it just seems that it is
predominantly white Caucasian people. The Vaccines and
Ed Sheeran who are also mentioned in my magazine and
are successful indie musicians are also in this category of
ethnicity. I still think that they are being positively
represented as this is not necessarily intentional and they
wouldn’t condone eliminating other ethnicities.

6. CL A S S
Indie magazines tend to be aimed towards middle and
upper-middle classed people. I feel that my magazine also
represents this and applies to this class group. The current
indie magazines on the market range from about £3 to £4
and is potentially alot of money, but due to the success of
these magazines it implies that people are willing to spend
this much money on a magazine and can afford to do so,
Therefore my magazine is priced at £2.75. I wanted to
keep it slightly cheaper so it could include people tending
towards the lower middle class and therefore being
positively diverse. Other ways it is predominately middle
class is that it includes the top 12 festival information,
implying that this is something the indie genre are
interested in. Music festivals tend to be quite expensive
and they tend to attend them frequently. The people they
socialise there with will be of a similar class origin, forming
this indie culture.

7. L I F ES TYL E
The lifestyle of my target audience is positively
represented in my magazine in various ways.
The free download suggests that the indie social group are
interested in technology and they regularly purchase and
download their music via a computer. This represents
them positively as being very up to date and fresh people
which reflects their musical tastes. The offer to win The
Vaccines tickets and the festival information shows they
often attend gigs and music festivals and this would
heavily be apart of their lifestyle, it shows they are
dedicated to their musical interests and enjoy seeing their
bands live in concert and the atmosphere that comes with
it, representing them as very sociable people as well who
enjoy being in these large crowds.
The young model on the front represents the indie genre
being of an age where they would usually be in higher
education and university. This level of intelligence that

8. I B EL I EVE I H A VE K EPT TO TH E CON VEN TI ON S A N D
S TER EOTYPES A S S OCI A TED WI TH M Y S OCI A L GR OU P
TH A T WOU L D B E TH E TA R GET A U D I EN CE F OR M Y
M A GA Z I N E. TH ER EF OR E I TH I N K M Y M A GA Z I N E
WI L L B E S U CCES S F U L I N A PPEA L I N G TO TH I S
PA R TI CU L A R GEN R E A N D TH A T M Y M A GA Z I N E
R EPR ES EN TS TH EM I N A VER Y POS I TI VE WA Y.