Q2. Representation

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The fan base of my magazine Craze consists of mostly middle class 16-24 years old, that are involved in chart music, gigs, but also fashion and lifestyle tips. These fans like to be up-to-date in the latest things and know what is going on in the world of gossip, fashion and music, so therefore rely on Craze to bring them this information.

I have chosen to compare my cover photo, 'an upcoming sensation', known as 'Naomi Snow', the top image, with the famous Alicia Keys, the bottom image. I made this decision on the basis that both are seen as independent solo artists, involved with fashion and very enthusiastic about their music.

The photo of 'Naomi Snow' represents everything I am aiming my magazine towards. Take the age, for example, we can see from the cover photo that Naomi is a young adult, implying that the readers of my magazine will be a similar age as they will be able to relate in a way to her age and when she talks about some of the struggles, this will be understood better. In the cover photo, Naomi seems to be smirking whilst pulling a almost innocent face. This suggests that she maybe has a different side to her, and this is what the readers of my magazine will be like; classy girls that also are nosy about the current gossip and keeping up to date with music. If choosing a psycho-graphic label for my audience, I would choose my readers to be under the label of aspirers. This is because people reading these magazine will be interested in materialistic things, attending the latest gigs and visiting festivals, all of which include having the money to spend. Therefore, they would be aspiring to have all/go to all these things featured inside the magazine. I will also reflect the reader's inspirational lifestyles through the advertising I can attract. Advertisers are interested in reaching aspirational audiences because they know these people will be looking for the 'next best thing' and be interested in buying the latest products. My audience are likely to enjoy the advertising and react positively to it. Advertising in my magazine would be mostly makeup products such as L'oreal and Nails Inc, as my audience will be interested in this. There will also be a page featured in the back of my magazine which contains all shops and their websites that may be suited to my audience. This will appeal to my audience as anything featured in my magazine will be able to be brought on one of the shops on this page. This includes band merchandise for my aspiring audience.