Evaluation

Question 1

Question 2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine represents different social groups in a number of different ways. Gender, age, class and ethnicity are all shown within my magazine and directly reflect the representation of my target audience.

Gender is represented in my magazine, only using women for my models and featured artists. This is because my target audience is mainly females, who often would rather read about other women rather than powerful and dominant males as often illustrated in many magazines targeted at young girls. The women represented within my magazine are all successful females, defying and challenging traditional stereotypes that suggest women are less able than men. I chose to do this as female empowerment is very ‘trendy’ currently, with feminism becoming increasingly popular. This magazine is somewhat an appreciation for strong women in the 90’s and a celebration of where they are today. The feature picture on the front cover of Gwen Stefani shows her in long shot, direct address to the camera and an open pose. This represents the model as confident and empowered which could then reflect the audience’s characteristics as they are also confident, like the women pictured. All the clothes on the models look fashionable but also hark back to the 90’s, bringing back the association to the 90’s my magazine is striding for. As well as this, these women are represented as individual and in turn creative as they all have very different styles of clothing, that are very unique to them. Stefani dresses in casual yet fashionable clothing, Twain in sheer, sexy clothing, Morrisette in daytime casual and Mel B in bright, loud clothing. This represents a large group of the audience suggesting that they are all individual and may all connect with different artists within the cover. Furthermore, the exclusion of men from the cover represents my target audience as not obsessed with males as seen in magazines such as ‘top of the pops’ who frequently have headlines referring to  ‘the hottest men’ etc.

Age is represented through the models used in my magazine, although the models are meant to be representing the stars who were huge in the 90’s who would now be around 40 I had used younger models around the age of 17-18. This was because I didn’t have any models who looked old enough yet still had the glamour and poise I was looking for. If this was to be produced properly, I would use models who were actually the right age as the person I was trying to portray. However, I would have used older models as they’re people who the audience will have looked up to as children, and they had grown up and in turn so had the artists. It seemed like a natural progression for the magazine. The audience who would be interested by this shows that the audience are emotionally connected to their childhoods and have nostalgic tendencies linking back to the 90’s. The model themselves throughout the magazine suggest that age is just a social construct and it doesn’t matter what age you are, you can still look good. The clothing is bright and on trend for the 90’s revival. The bright colours within the magazine represent the audience as fun and loud, if they are attracted to this specific colour scheme. The red and blue combinations also create a lot of energy in the magazine, showing that the target audience are young and vibrant. The use of a mixture of fonts too adds an element of fun yet sophisticated reading. On my double page spread, there is around 4 different fonts, this all together creates a fun and unique magazine, reflecting the audience. As well as this, the ‘Win meet and greet with Gwen!’ buzz quote shows that the audience, due to their age prefer personal and interactive prizes rather than materialistic unauthentic prizes.

I have targeted my magazine at those in the middle class, to do this I have not used expensive looking brands throughout such as Gucci etc. that are clearly for vogue and other fashion based magazines. I have also dressed my models in clothes of which are not ‘high fashion’ and you could easily find on sites such as Asos and on the high street. This helps the audience relate to the stars as they don’t look unapproachable and too ‘expensive’ for the audience to ever achieve the look presented by their idols. 

This magazine does feature those from other ethnicities than just white British, Mel B is not what you would traditionally think of as ‘British’ however with the dynamic changing of what being British means and the change of what society deems as ‘beautiful’ I chose to incorporate her so my magazine wouldn’t be mono-ethnic, showing that this magazine doesn’t care who you are, it just relies on your shared love for the 90’s revival. In addition to this, some readers may identify with Mel B as it’s not a white-washed magazine, those who are ethnic minorities may choose this magazine over others as they are attracted to the magazine that shows equality and does actually feature a minority artist. 

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