Question Two- How does the media product represent a particular social group?

How does the media product represent a particular social group?

My chosen genre is aimed at a primarily younger age group who have an interest in rock/metal/alternative music.  In magazines such as Kerrang! And Rock Sound, this social group is represented as fun loving, but also ambitious. “The magazines’ psychographic is defined as ‘people who aspire to be respected among other people and people who wish to have a high paid job.” Advertisements of band merchandise, music, concerts and gadgets feature to target a youth audience, e.g. teens often have a slightly higher disposable income to spend on their social lives or materialistic items.

-The listeners of my chosen genre (rock music) are often stereotyped as being part of social groups such as:

-Goths

-Emo’s                          

-“Scene”

Kerrang! Has itself been accused as targeting itself at particular social groups with too much of a specific focus. For example it has often been accused at focusing too much toward an “emo” group which left listeners of nu-metal/metalcore or classic rock disappointed.

I did not want to focus my product at one specific social group, just the wider audience of rock and alternative listeners, aimed at an age group between 16-25.

I feel that I successfully represented this social group successfully. Costume, photography, mode of address and language has all been used in a way that represents this group.

In my front cover images, my models wear band t-shirts, hoodies and skinny jeans. This is a casual look but not an over emphasised look which is maybe too focus specific. They display a fun and carefree attitude by the way in which they are positioned, and their carefree attitude is represented by them destroying the cd’s.

My contents pages have a consistent informal mode of address reflecting its aim at a younger group. Even the editor’s note remains light-hearted and friendly, creating a greater sense of interactivity and relationship between the readers and producers.

My double page article is mostly more serious in content. However, there are still aspects of a fun loving attitude between the more serious comments.  For example, the band talk about how they created their own success in a mature manner, but later on they joke about how their album was inspired. The fun attitude is also presented through one of my photographs which features on this double page spread. The photo shows one of the band members aiming to hit the other with a guitar. These kinds of outrageous and comical photos are often found in magazines of the same genre. It reflects the humour of an audience who want to see their favourite artists having fun and not taking themselves too seriously.