This magazine cover follows all the conventions of a magazine with a target audience of young teenage girls. Firstly, the main images features a popular singer with an interesting cover story. The use of the colour pink also helps appeal to young girls as the colour pink is normally associated with feminine products It has 14 sub images. One is accompanied by a quote of a personal nature in regards to a celebrity relationship. The audience would receive gratification through learning more about the star, this idea comes from the uses and gratification theory. Another sub image is paired with the text “Look like Little Mix” the audience would listen to the opinion of the media outlet and be inspired to recreate the advice presented exactly how the hypodermic needle theory suggests. The magazine uses incentives to make the consumer believe they are getting something they cannot find anywhere else. An example of this is the use of the buzz word: exclusive. Another incentive presented in the magazine is the 10 posters. By not just offering one by ten the magazine is offering an abundance of something which the Dyer’s Utopian Theory would argue this is effective as it offers a contrast to the scarcity experienced in everyday like. These incentive also make the reader feel like they are getting their money’s worth. A barcode is featured on the the front cover which helps stores to scan the front cover which helps stores scan the product and maintain a uniform price. It also allows the magazine company to see how many people are buying their product which is really important as they would like to see how successful their product is. The magazine features convergences in the form of a web address. This allows readers to get even more from the magazine and join other readers of the product. With something in common the audience feels like they are apart of something like a community. The masthead, “We <3 Pop”, also adds to the communal feeling by the use of the word we. Audience Theory
Transcript
This magazine cover follows all the conventions of a magazine with a target audience of young teenage girls. Firstly, the main images features a popular singer with an interesting cover story. The use of the colour pink also helps appeal to young girls as the colour pink is normally associated with feminine products It has 14 sub images. One is accompanied by a quote of a personal nature in regards to a celebrity relationship. The audience would receive gratification through learning more about the star, this idea comes from the uses and gratification theory. Another sub image is paired with the text “Look like Little Mix” the audience would listen to the opinion of the media outlet and be inspired to recreate the advice presented exactly how the hypodermic needle theory suggests. The
magazine uses incentives to make the consumer believe they are getting something they cannot find anywhere else. An exampleof this is the use of the buzz word: exclusive. Another incentive presented in the magazine is the 10 posters. By not just offering one by ten the magazine is offering an abundance of something which the Dyer’s Utopian Theory would argue this is effective as it offers a contrast to the scarcity experienced in everyday like. These incentive also make the reader feel like they are getting their money’s worth. A barcode is featured on the the front cover which helps stores to scan the front cover which helps stores scan the product and maintain a uniform price. It also allows the magazine company to see how many people are buying their product which is really important as they would like to see how successful their product is. The magazine features convergences in the form of a web address. This allows readers to get even more from the magazine and join other readers of the product. With something in common the audience feels like they are apart of something like a community. The masthead, “We <3 Pop”, also adds to the communal feeling by the use of the word we.
Audience Theory
The use of costume conforms to the ideas presented in the male gaze theory. The fact that she is not wearing a shirt and just a bra would attract a heterosexual male audience for the following reasons. Some may argue that the singer is dressed in this manner as she is simply seen as a sex object however she could also be dressed in this way to empower herself and advance her career as her stance shows that she is confident. Her make up and hair conforms to the theory as it has been used to enhance her beauty and make her look more desirable. Her facial code also adheres to the male gaze theory as she is addressing the audience directly. The main cover story further adds evidence to support the male gaze theory. The use of the terminology of good and “bad girl” makes her seem like a sex object as they are
often used to describe types of women that are solely there to satisfy men.This cover completely subverts from the feminine mystique theory as she is not portrayed as a housewife or mother. This is made evident by the how much skin she is revealing which would not be seen on a conventional mother figure
Representation
In 1990, Tzvetan Todorov said, 'A new genre is always the transformation of one or several old genres.‘ This is made evident in the front cover of the February 2013 edition of The Rolling Stone magazine. It features some of the conventions of a magazine cover like the main image of a very popular musician as well as the main cover story and cover stories of articles that feature within the magazine, they use shock evoking words like “epidemic” which excites audiences and creates an interest in the story. It doesn’t however have a clearly visible masthead as it is covered by the main image however we are still able to identify the magazine from it’s iconic font and colour which has been made recognisable from it’s establishment over the course of recent years. We know this as it wasn’t featured on the 1969 edition of the magazine. Though not clearly visible the magazine now uses convergence in the form of their web address. This shows another one of their transformations as they are offering the consumer something that was not previously available. The web version of the magazine offers additional articles and exclusive information which adds incentive to get the magazine as they feel like they are getting more for their money.
