Evaluation question 2

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

The use of media and how they portray different social groups is essential within the magazine industry; different styles are used to present different social groups in many different ways, so when creating my media product I needed to ensure I was able to clearly represent my particular target audience and social group. 

The social group I have decided to represent in my media magazine are older teens and young adults whom listen to R&B and hip hop music.I had to do lots of research into my social group in order to make sure I was able to represent them properly and this also made me be able to do specific research as I knew what I was aiming for. The target group that I chose was R&B and hip hop but also strong women, which I feel we find more of within this genre as they are not scared to be dominant. I chose strong, influential females such as Beyonce and Nicki Minaj, these are shown in the images below.

Females are presented a lot differently to how males are presented, especially in magazine and therefore I also used Drake’s edition of Vibe magazine for research.

I then used a collaboration of these to create a magazine that was not going to be afraid of showing women in a different light, what R&B and Hip Hop is about – risk. I feel that in doing this I have managed to chose a social group that is a new generation of females and the R&B and hip hop followers which include sterotypes such as ravers, chavs and casuals also known as ‘townies.’

All photos that I have researched are MEDIUM LONG SHOT. This usually includes from the waist upwards.

From the three magazines I have picked, they all have similar, relaxed mouths. It is unusual to have the model smiling on the front cover. However, the female models in my research have a provocative look and this represents my social group, therefore when creating my contents page and front page I have made my models have a powerful facial expression, looking directly into the camera so that they have fierce eyes and in the contents page I have made her outfit fit with the theme of hip hop and risk which again links to the social group. The posture of all pictures I have chosen has a certain similarity too. The artists/models are all standing up, in a non-slouched position to maintain dominance and authority.

Music magazines that are already published and aim to market themselves to either the pop or R&B/rap genre; usually aim to target an audience of teenagers and young adults, usually between 13-28 years old. Therefore they are aiming to have a model on the front that the target audience may look up to or inspire, and somebody that is current and fresh so they have an air of interest around them. The main picture on the front page can then become very important as this is what the customer will first see and depending on whether it is somebody they recognise or somebody that looks intriguing compared to if they don’t could be the difference between a sale and not selling the product at all.

Within my social group I feel the models must look 'sexy' in order to capture the audience, I feel you can capture this best with the look in somebody’s eyes which I have done with my front cover, I have also dressed her in sophisticated clothes, almost business like to give her a power status which is also very important to my social group. I have again used the ‘sexy’ look in my contents page, but this time to a further extent and stripped with costume I have stripped her down to just a t shirt in order to give that provocative look, which will entice the customer further into the magazine.

In terms of costume my social group is usually attracted to two different looks either 'as little clothes as possible' this makes the female models look 'sexy' and confident acting as role models for teenagers. This is similar throughout all VIBE magazine front covers containing a female model on the front. Particular front covers, however have the ‘business’ woman look which shows a measure of authority and power which can also be seen as slightly ‘sexy’ and attractive, again something that may be used as role model for teenagers, and in this there is barely any flesh showing at all. I have used both of these styles of costume in my media product so that I have varied my product and reached out to the whole social group in more than one way.

My social group are interested in singers and artists such as Lil Wayne, Trey Songz, Rihanna and Chris Brown. In knowing this I have made sure I have featured these artists on my front page in order to attract my targeted social group to my product. Another way I have incorporated the artists that I know my social groups are interested in is by using competitions such as ‘win tickets to Trey Songz’ which will again attract my social group. I know that these are my target groups interests through research into magazines and the artists often featured. I know that these are my target market and that these are the artists they associate with as at their concerts through album sales and through research on social networking sites such as twitter where you can research ‘fandoms’ such as ‘barbz’ which are Nicki Minaj’s followers and ‘Young Money Cash Money Billionaires’ Lil Wayne’s clothing line you can see that it is the older generation of teens that are purchasing these goods and following these celebrities. I spent time researching blogs dedicated to these artists in order to really understand my target audience.

Here is one blog that I have researched made by a fan of ‘YMCB.’ You can tell through the picture of the artists with the green background that they are of R&B genre through clothing and make up of males and females. I then went through the blog and went one step further by going through the followers and who had visited; I then searched some of them blogs. Through this I have found out that my target market are between the ages of 15-28.