The document discusses how the media product represents particular social groups. It summarizes that: 1) The front cover features a late teenage female model to represent the target audience. This portrays the social group in a somewhat stereotypical way. 2) Most of the interior images are of females to relate to the target audience, but it also includes a male artist to appeal to female readers and create variety. This counters stereotypes of magazines focusing only on female artists. 3) Some images portray teenage girls in a less stereotypical, more mature way through their clothing choices of jeans and jumpers rather than bright dresses. This challenges stereotypes of always representing teenage girls in a very girly way obsessed

1. Question 2-
How does your
media product
represent
particular social
groups?
Katie Thomas

2. Front Cover
 My model for the front cover was chosen
because she is an accurate representation of
my target audience. This is because she is a late
teenage female who enjoys pop music.
 Therefore I think my audience would be able to
relate to her, as they are a similar age.
 The differences between the two images is that
my image has the model not looking directly at
the camera, I did this to make my magazine
look different to regular pop magazines.
 Also the model in “Top of The Pops” appears
more glamorous because of her makeup and
hair.
 The clothes of the two models are fairly similar
although perhaps my model’s clothes look
slightly more casual in that she is wearing a t-
shirt and jacket.
 Therefore I have partially portrayed this social
group in a stereotypical way.
 The facial expressions of the two models are
quite different because the “Top of the Pops”
model isn’t smiling whereas my model is. I have
decided to do this because it makes my
magazine look more friendly and appealing to
readers as she looks happy and smiley.
 Both images also have a plain white
background. This shows I have kept with some
stereotypes of pop magazines. I did this
because I think it makes the images look more
professional and clean cut.

3. Other images
 My images are mainly of females
because this is my target audience
and so I feel they would be able to
relate to them more.
 However, I have also used an image
of a male showing my magazine
doesn’t just focus on female artists
and creating variety in the images. I
have also done this because I think
featuring male artists will also appeal
to females, because stereotypically
teenage girls like young male singers.
 This goes against the stereotype
because I have noticed many
teenage magazines contain lots of
photos of teenage/early twenties
males because the stereotype is they
can become obsessive towards them.
However, my magazine is more to do
with the music rather than the
“celebrities” hence I am subverting
the dominant stereotype by having
fewer images of males and not
commenting on them being “fit” or
“attractive”.

4. Other images
 However, in some of my other
photos I have portrayed teenagers
in a less stereotypical way. This is
because I have images of female
teenagers (who are my target
audience) but represented them
in a more mature way.
 This is very contrasting to the pop
genre stereotype because
generally teenage girls are
represented in a very girly way.
This is shown through the clothing
many of the models wear which
tend to be bright dresses and skirts
whereas my models are just
wearing jeans and jumper/t-shirt.
This make them appear less girly
and obsessed with looks which is
the conventional stereotype.

5. House style
 Through the layout, fonts and colours I have also
represented my target audience, because it is aimed
specifically at them.
 The colours I have used are red and teal which contrasts to
the stereotypical pop magazines which tend to use pink
and purple. These colours I feel connote youth and being
really girly.
 I have also used a less informal mode of address than the
stereotypical pop magazines which use slang and
abbreviations, like “omg”. This makes the target audience
seem very immature.
 I think the combinations of my colour scheme and mode of
address challenges the stereotype, by showing teenage
girls can be more mature and not as girls as generally
represented.