Evaluation Question 2

How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?

My main target audence ranges fron teenages aged 15 up to ‘90’s kids’ now in their 20’s. My target audience falls between C2 and E on the NRS social grade. While creating my magazine I have tried to be non-gender specific, despite this I think that my magazine mostly targets a female market within this age group. Because of this the article is based around an up and coming artist of a similar age group the target market will show interest as it is someone who they can aspire to and look up to as a role model. The colours of the magazine are a very neutral palette but still show vibrancy and youthfulness, something that the target audience can engage with. I think the layout is something that could be seen as modern and mature, I think that people of this particular age group respond to well as being seen as older than they actually are is something that is a positive thing for them.

While researching for my magazine I looked at a very wide range of magazines, including those that do not fall into the music category. This was so I could get a clear idea of what style of magazine to make so that I could aim it at my target audience. This lead me to make my magazine using the best features of some of the major magazines that currently exist. This helped as it showed me what type of things are usually seen on the front cover and what theme and feel my magazine should have.

On my contents page it is clear to see that the magazine focuses on many stories, not just the one that I fabricated. These story’s titles and descriptions all link back to the target audience. However, not all of these are directly to do with music, some are articles about charity events and backstage interviews. I also included a section about a competition. These have been placed here so readers who were attracted to the magazine, other than an interest in music, have something that interests them. Using formal language is something that I chose to do instead of using slang such as “OMG”, this is because of the point I made earlier, that my target audience respect a mature attitude as the aspire to appear to be older than they actually are.

I think that all of these features combined help to fit in with the social group. Although it does not fully represent them I feel that it provides a basis for the target audience to aspire to.