The Big Issue: Assessment Task 1

On the 18^th July, The Big Issue released it’s 1214^th issue, this is shown above the masthead on the magazine. The magazine has a very clear intertextual analysis of the most recent ‘Ghostbusters’ film. This movie was released just 7 days before this issue of The Big Issue was. This is clearly shown as the Ghostbuster movie because of the iconic theme song line “who you gonna call?”, this is the line everybody knows. Another way the Ghostbuster movie is shown in the magazine, is by the way the people in the main image are dressed in the costume and standing just like the original actors with the laser guns, elements of mise en scene, in the first advertisement who are Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones. However, in The Big Issues front cover they have (most likely) photoshopped the heads off and replaced them with the most other important women during July 2016, who are; Hilary Clinton, Teresa May, Taylor Swift and Serena Williams. The heads of the 4 women are heavily photo shopped to make the front covers main image slightly comical, this being the visual narrative.

Hilary Clinton was a very important person for world readers and reporters, this is because during the US presidential election campaign she was against Donald Trump. Her aims were to help increase racial, LGBT awareness as well as other things. This makes her left- wing, appealing to the primary target audience of The Big Issue, who were more socially aware people. However, in the view of most American Press, Clinton was the most favoured nominee of the Democratic Party. After this, Trump made allegations against Clinton claiming she used her own personal email during her time as the Secretary of State, this became an FBI investigation, 5^th July 2016, in Clintons favour.

Teresa May was in The Big Issue after David Cameron had stepped down as Prime Minister after the end of the Brexit referendum. After this Tereasa May was elected to stand in for the Conservative party. She was also major towards the UK as she has been the only other female prime minister since Margaret Thatcher.

Taylor Swift was a significant woman for her to be on the front cover for this magazine front cover. The reason for this was because Kanye West’s music video for his most recent song ‘Famous’, which showed 11 wax models of famous individuals laying in a large bed, naked. One of these celebrities featured in the video was Taylor Swift, she was showed naked, lying to the left of Kanye West himself. Her main issue with her part of this video/ song was the one lyric that stated “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex” “Why? I made that b***h” famous”. Swift arguing that she had not agreed to this with Kanye West using these lines and believed it was a violation of her rights.

Serena Williams was important at the time of this magazines front cover release because on 9^th July 2016 Williams defeated Angelique Kerber in the finals at Wimbledon to claim her 22nd singles title. Making her the only tennis player to have won singles titles at least six times in three of the four Grand Slam tournaments. Representing how women are rising in power.

The main copy line (the only copy line of the newspaper) states “Who you gonna call’ this creates anchorage to the main cover image as it confirms the ghost busters theme tune. Instead of typically saying 'ghostbusters' at the end of the recognisable song “who you gonna call”, The Big Issue have put in ‘the new female front line', reinforcing the idea that women have had a successful year/ month and they are on top of their game and are increasing in the amount of power they actually have.

The Big Issue: Key Terminology

Advertising revenue- This is when companies and magazines gain money for putting advertisements into their product.

Articles- An article is a piece of writing that is written by a columnist, to be put with lots of other news into a newspaper, magazines.

Audience Appeal- this is when media text targets a very small specific audience that are interested in a specific topic or theme and are able to decipher the code in a media text without challenge.

Cost- this is a set amount that a person is required to pay in order to acquire the product.

Cultural and political awareness- This is when the magazine or newspaper a aware about things such as music and art (culture) and about what is happening in the world politically.

Culture- these are aspects of society which changes from country to country. For example, art and music

David v Goliath narratives- A story where a ‘down trodden group’ will fight corporate giants

Editor-in-chief- this person is also known as a lead editor, chief editor, who is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies.

Editorial content- This means content that is not advertising based.

Editorial opinion- An article in a newspaper or magazine expressing the opinion of the editor or publisher.

Emotional fulfilment- This means the feeling of happiness and satisfaction on the completion of something, for The Big Issue when buying a copy somebody may feeling happy with themselves as they are helping someone less fortunate than them.

Front cover- the front part of the cover of a book, magazine. This generally tells you what is going to be inside the magazine.

Guest columnists- These are people that write articles on a topic of their choosing. They are typically selected due to their proximity to a national or international issue.

Hybrid genre- This is also known as a cross genre which is a genre that blends themes and elements from two or more different genres.

Ideological beliefs- These are sets of social or political beliefs that are from specific cultures.

Ideology- An ideology is a set of opinions or beliefs of a group or an individual. Very often ideology refers to a set of political beliefs or a set of ideas that characterize a particular culture. Capitalism, communism, socialism, and Marxism are ideologies

Independent publication- This is when the magazine or newspaper is responsible for producing and selling their products

Institutional factors- these are factors that relate to structures in society. For example, rules, routines

Intertextuality- this means the process of creating references to different kinds of media texts.

Interviews- these are question and answer columns between the interviewer and the guest

John Bird and Gordon Roddick- These are the founders of The Big Issue

Key appeals- these are main points that the editors think are the most important parts of the news, which the primary target audience would have an interest in.

Language code- The form of literature used, for example The Big Issue uses a formal and complex structure meaning only the primary target audience who are well educated will be able to understand the tests properly.

Low production values- this is the quality of the magazine, for example The Big Issue has low production values because the quality of the paper is fairly thin and easily damaged.

Magazine sales- the number of magazines sold.

Modes of address- The language used within articles. For example, The Big Issue uses complex sentence structures to make it appear that the article is talking to you as a reader. 

News- these are events that are happening in the world, in The Big Issue, the news would be different for each country in each magazine in order for it to be relevant to that society.

Not-for-profit organisation- this is an organisation that works not to gain a profit, but to help people that are struggling in life. Any remaining money is put into there company in order to benefit charity.

Passing trade- this means the copies of the magazines are sold within shops or newsagents, they are only available on the street when passing a vendor.

Primary target audience- this is the main audience The Big Issue is aiming to sell their magazine to, the demographic is ABC1 professionals aged between 25-44.

Public service- this is a service that people are doing to help the community, for example The Big Issue’s service is to get rid of homelessness.

Published-  this term is used after the magazine has been completed and can be purchased by the public.

Rogue traders- these are people that are illegally selling copies of The Big Issue.

Socially aware- this means people/ companies are aware of the problems that are happening in the world.

Start-up capital- The money needed and raised in order for the company to start production.

Target audience- The Big Issue is aiming to sell their magazine to, the demographic is ABC1 professionals aged between 25-44.

The Big Issue- the name of the magazine.

The Big Issue Company Ltd- this is the main organisation that owns the magazine and the charity. It is a private limited, meaning it has limited liability. Also meaning shares of the company can only be sold to friends and family of the owners. 

The Big Issue Foundation- The charitable organisation that is an arm of The Big Issue magazine

Vendors- these are the people that are responsible for selling copies of The Big Issue.

Weekly circulation- the number of magazines made, distributed and sold a week. For The Big Issue this is around 82,000 a week.

The Big Issue

The big issue was launched in 1991, who offer the opportunity to people that are homeless to earn an income by selling the magazine to the public. Vendors, people who sell the magazine, buy The Big Issue for £1.25 and then go on to sell it for £2.50, making them a micro-entrepreneur who is working, not actually begging. Therefore it is vitally important that buyers take their copy of the magazine when the pay for it.

In 2016, The Big Issue sold it's 200th millionth copy, it also celebrated it's 25th anniversary and launched a shop, a fully customised online platform committed to selling products with a social echo. The magazine has helped over 92,00 vendors earn £115 million in total. There are currently 1500 vendors selling The big issue to the public and this helped them to earn £5.5 million and it circulates around 82,294 copies each week. 

Shelter Advertisement

Visual Narrative:

Some questions that could be raised by the audience seeing this campaign are

• How can I help these people?
• What is actually happening to them?
• Why are there lives like this?

Copy:

All the copies are in the colour red. This could suggest to the audience that bad things are happening to them. The reason for this is because Red connotes to thoughts such as anger and danger. The audience could infer from this that because the copy is placed over their faces it means that their lives are being taken over by the problems they are facing.

In the first copy it states the word 'we' this could suggest to the audience that the women has children, therefore creating empathy causing the audience to donate to the charity. In the second and third copy they both state the word 'can't' this would suggest to the audience that they have no physical was of getting out the situation they are in, once again creating empathy causing them to donate. 

Colour:

All the colours used in the advertisement give the idea of their lives being negative and depressing. This is because black shows darkness that could imply that they are trapped in the situation and have no way out of it, and the Red suggests they are in a bad situation because red signifies danger and anger. 

Slogan: 

There is no slogan on this advertisement, this could be to suggest the seriousness of the situation people are in because most slogans are fun and edgy. 

Rule of thirds: 

When using the rule of thirds you can see that their eyes are in both the centre sections and the top sections. This could be to attract you attention specifically to the eyes as they are the part that tells what happened to them and how they are feeling. 

Other information:

The target audience for this advertisement would be male and female of all ages. This is because they want to try and get the seriousness of the situation into every generation so they spread more awareness for their cause. 

5 charity advertisements:

Old Spice: Initial Research

Old Spice is an American based brand that focus on male grooming products and anterpersperants. Old spice was orginally maunfactured by the Shulton Company, who was founded by William Lightfoot Schultz in 1934. The very first Old Spice product was called Early American Old Spice was produced in 1937 for women and the Old Spice product made in 1938 for men.


When Early American Old spice was first introduced Scultz was interested in maintaining a coloinal framework, whereas he chose to go with a nautical theme for Old Spice. In June 1990 Procter and Gamble purchased the Old Spice fragrances, Skin Care and Antipersperant products from the Shulton Company. 


Old Spice's logos are focused on sailing ships in particular due to it being related to the male's products chosen theme. The main ships used were the Grand Turk and the Friendship. Some other ships used in the advertiseing include the Maria, the Teresa, the star of the West and the Java. 


In an Advertising campaign developed by Wieden + Kennedy in 2010 featuring Isaiah Mustafa became popular after the first advertisement, titled The Man Your Man Could Smell Like, went Viral. Watch that video here: https://youtu.be/owGykVbfgUE

After the previous Old Spice campaign went viral, they realease a second advertisement "The response Campaign. Over iust two and a half days Ild spice filmed 186 video's containing Isaiah Mustafa and multiple other celebrities such as, Terry Crews and Wes Walker. This campaign earned the brand 40 million views in just one week.