QUESTION 2.

How does your media

product represent
particular social groups?
W H O WA S M Y TA R G E T A U D I E N C E ?

Predominantly white males

Aged between 17-25

College level education (depending on the age)

At around B/ C2 on the social class scale.

The lifestyle of my target audience would include:

going to gigs/ festivals.
Has a disposable income
 TARGET AUDIENCE
I chose my target audience to be predominantly
white males because this is what is already seen
within the media already. Successful bands and
magazines within this genre are/ target white males.
Furthermore there are more well known male rock
bands in the industry as opposed to female,
therefore a male audience would be able to relate
more to the (majority) people shown in the
magazine.
 TARGET AUDIENCE
The target age range would be 17-25 as this age
group has a more disposable income and possibly
more free time. For example, they may not have
bills to pay, children, a partner or possibly even a
job. If the target audience is older they may have
these factors in their life.
A college level education or possibly someone mid
way through University level may have different
interests to someone older with a degree, full time
job and family.
 REPRESENTATION: AGE
The age group of the people photographed within my magazine are
within the target audience age range, this makes the target audience
relate more to the people in the magazine. However there is also
mention of older bands such as Black Sabbath who could appeal to
some of the older target audience, perhaps even the younger audience
too. The band on the front cover and double page spread are wearing
relatively normal clothing and they arent stereotyping the genre of
rock, for example wearing leather, which happens a lot, however this is
considered quite dated and old- fashioned now. They look like a normal
rock band.
R E P R E S E N TAT I O N: G E N D E R

The gender of the majority of the people photographed and wrote about are
male, as this is relatable to the main target audience. As well as this, it is most
similar to reality which makes the magazine seem more professional and
realistic. On the contents page there is a female featured which clearly isnt
the same gender as the main target audience. I featured this image because
females will still want to read the magazine so an element they can relate to is
beneficial- in effect creating a wider target audience. However this image also
works in a way beneficial to the main target audience also, males will find the
female attractive and enjoy seeing the female within the magazine. Evidence
of this is within the Male Gaze theory by Laura Mulvey.
R E P R E S E N TAT I O N: E T H N I C I T Y /
SOCIAL CLASS/ DISABILITY

Within the rock genre white males are the majority, as well as the predominant
target audience. Therefore I decided to photograph white people as this is
something the target audience is expecting and are used to.
The social class of the magazine is not obvious, however it would be assumed that
it would most likely limit at around B as the colours are quite youthful (e.g. red
and orange) as well as the people featured. This is assuming that younger people
may still be in education or working in lower positions at first.
Disability is difficult to represent however the magazine isnt specifically targeted
at a non- disabled audience. Perhaps reading the magazine is a way a disabled
person (e.g. a deaf or blind person) finds information on music, as the writing is
descriptive.
 SUB- CULTURES
The genre rock is stereotyped as being and
looking, like a punk or a goth. There are clear
stereotypes of what a rocker looks like: wearing
leather, studs, black, eccentric hair and makeup,
huge chunky boots.. However if you look at the
majority of todays rock artists or bands they are
dressed however they want to- which most of the
time is their own fashion; quite plain and normal.
Therefore within my magazine I represented their
unique and individual style.
 ROCK- COLOURS
Instead, some of the ways I stereotyped the rock genre is by use of
colour, font and language.
My house style consisted of 3 main colours; black, red and white (there
are bursts of orange too- this is a convention of magazines as it used to
catch the audiences attention). These colours are used throughout the
genre as a whole: in magazines as well as by association. For example:
red represents; excitement, anger, love and stop, black represents; rock
music, death, goths and strength. These are associations with rock
music through colour without the audience being prompted by an
image.
 ROCK - FONT
I used bold fonts within the magazine, not only
because it makes the text more eye catching and is a
code and convention, but also because it connotes
and image of being strong and loud which rock
music is, especially in comparison with other genres
such as pop or hip hop.
 ROCK LANGUAGE
The type of language I used consisted of the lexicon surrounding rock and music
generally. For instance on the contents page instead of using contents as a title I
used in the mix which is just a more interesting phrase and play on words.
As well as this I used onomatopoeic words such as the masthead itself raw, it is
a loud sound which could have the double meaning of roar, this represents rock
music well as it is always loud. As well as this raw could be taken as real, as
people tend to think it doesnt sounds as auto-tuned or perfect.
I used punctuation such as exclamation marks in order to make the audience
more involved and excited with the magazine. It also gives the idea that it is being
shouted (relating to rock again). The use of question marks gives direct address to
the audience and makes them feel more a part of the magazine.