Adbusters - 'POST-WEST'

Adbusters is a non-profit, anti capitalist and anti consumerist magazine. They specialize in subverting typical and traditional magazine conventions with no adverts whatsoever. They take mainstream conglomerate adverts and culture jam them throughout the magazine to promote their message. Adbuster magazines also contain articles that relate to their post modern world message. As shown in the covers (left and right) although they brand their magazines the font is in a different style to avoid branding.


Set Cover:

-Masthead: Plain, white, sans serif font clearly viable at the top of the cover however pasted over/partially covered by a
dirt affect.

-Title: 'POST WEST' in same white font as the mast head social/political message - image linked to article 'time for a radical rethink of what is considered a normal life in the decadent west'. Also suggesting a link to 'post-truth'

-image not fully anchored - assumes a level of understanding in the audience.

-gesture/clothing black background, main image of male in khaki camouflage jacket, angry, animal-like expression, clenched fist -subverts codes of consumer/lifestyle magazines.

"CHRISTIAN LOUIBOUTON"

This is a culture jam of Christian Louboutin's advert for high-heels. As shown where the high heels should be have been replaced by two bottles used as the soles of flip-flops with pieces of string. Instead of a typical model they have used a shot of the feet of a stereotypical African in poverty. As shown the photo is taken in a dry dusty part of Africa perhaps Zambia or Ethiopia adhering to shared conceptual road maps of said countries. Paul Gilroy's Post Colonial theory can be applied to this page as the bottles are likely to have come from places such as the UK, without us it is unlikely a person in Africa would have ever come across such bottles without British colonisation.

The culture jam on the page is criticising how pointless the Christian Louboutin high heels are as although shown in the media as the 'nicest' high heels that should be the most expensive, in reality their worth is probably much less and it's functionality awful. The shoes shown in the image could be identified as being more functional than high heels as high heels often cause problems in foot growth. Furthermore the caption 'Red soles are always in season' perhaps further criticise the consumerist view of wanting these high heels with red soles and how people in this situation possibly have red soles on the bottom of their feet. This perhaps graphic imagery is what Adbusters aim for in their magazine to convey a dramatic message.

Norman Gall - Osasco

The first article presented is written by journalist Norman Gall. Norman Gall has been to multiple LICs and observed the lack of basic resources such as toilets, food and water. The article focuses on Osasco in Sao Paulo where 'people rise at 3:30AM to collect water' that he describes as polluted and disease ridden.

'Him' - Zucchetti.

The next page tremendously juxtaposes the last article. Although it is an ad for Zucchetti's bathroom wear the ad is placed in the magazine to mock it and to ruin it's image. The image shown of the tap shows a rather slick and expensive tap that is likely to be overpriced simply for it's design rather than it's actual function. This makes a mockery of Zucchetti and those who purchase items from Zucchetti because it shows how the consumerist lifestyle takes water for granted and is more bothered with the look of a tap and the water coming out rather than actually being grateful to have water whatsoever. When looking at the website Adbusters point is further emphasized by Zucchetti's pretentious tone that is only present to entice the audience.

350ppm and Justin Gillis

The next two pages are referencing climate change. The first image has a rough black background with an image of a model with a painted '350ppm' over the image. '350ppm' refers to 350 parts per million, this is the limit of how much CO2 needs to be in the atmosphere before the greenhouse effect takes place. The use of this over the model is significant because the cosmetics industry is known for it's pollution and contribution to climate change.

To the right of this image we have a second image followed by a paragraph written by Justin Gillis who is an author and activist in preventing climate change. The second image shows a woman who is begging in the middle of a city center. She contrasts to the model as firstly she is of much lower class and arguably closer to the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy of needs to the model who is closer to the top. Furthermore they contrast because the woman on the street has likely had very little contribution to climate change whereas the model is advertising the cosmetics industry that has a very large contribution to climate change.

'Save the Planet Kill Yourself'

This next article is the longest article in the magazine. It is written by David Joez and is taken from his book 'Villaverde's Save the Planet Kill Yourself: A Guide to Living in the End Times.' He is a writter and a poet in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

This article has a very protestant tone that directly targets audiences in the west. The article is structured in the order of items in a supermarket or shop and gives a story of information about how each product effects the human body, mind and how it pollutes the world/environment around us. It has a very left wing anti-consumerist view that targets large corporations such as 'Coca-Cola' and the places that we shop at. It criticizes these capitalist firms and gives a bad image of there completely profit oriented views.

This article is one of the many aspects of the magazine that make it deviate from normal mainstream magazines. This large article of a dense two pages of text is unusual as it allows no room for advertisements. Furthermore it criticizes other magazines as they also produce lots of harmful by-products for the environment.

The quote "you learned long ago to ignore reality" and "like how you call pig pork or bacon or sausage instead of calling it pig[to appear more stomach friendly]" use personal pronouns to directly talk to and target the audience reading. It criticisms them in a very 'telling of ' tone. Further quotes such as "the second leading ingredient in Coca-Cola, high fructose corn syrup, is problematic far beyond it's deleterious health effects" show how Adbusters are targeting big capitalist corporations and their methods.

This is America

Childish Gambino, or Donald Glover, is a music artist, director, actor, writer and comedian who I enjoy watching perform. He has Produced the song 'This is America' and director Hiro Murai helped produce the shocking and powerful music video with Glover as the frontman to it. The video addresses the issue of gun violence, racism and mass shootings in the US via the use of hidden choreography and other means. After it debuted on the 5th of May 2018, it became the 31st song to debut at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 whilst also topping the charts in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYOjWnS4cMY 

Curren and Seaton

Power and Media Industries

-James Curren and Jean Seaton's theory of power and media industries suggests the media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the logic of profit and power

-The idea that the media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the logic of profit and power

-The idea that media concentration generally limits or inhibits variety, creativity and quality

-The idea that more socially diverse patterns of ownership help to create the conditions for more varied and adventurous media productions.

-The idea that more socially diverse patterns of ownership help to create the conditions for more varied and adventurous media production.

e.g The BBC, a large scale conglomerate, has a large influence over many platforms such as TV, radio and the internet. Thus spreading it's reaches in power and profit. A large varied audience is interested in the show 'Top Gear' which increases the scale of influence that the BBC has.

'Straight Outta Compton'

Straight Outta Compton-Case Study by Edward Pick on Scribd

'Woman' Magazine

'Woman' Magazine is a British magazine that was first published in 1937, it is targeted towards 30-40 year old women. It encompasses the female beauty and fashion industry, celebrity gossip, TV, News and real life stories that the target audience might take interest in.This cover of 'Woman' is from the 23rd-29th of August 1964. The title and brand 'Woman' is in a very curly font that establishes the informal address to the audience of which also easily establishes the target and dominant audience as 'Woman' suggests a more mature audience then perhaps 'Girl'. The main image and title takes up the majority of the layout suggesting that it has great importance. The model chosen has particularly white teeth, nice hair, makeup and a dress. This presentation of women is very typical of the 1960s, women at the time were taught that they were constantly voyered by men and that they should always be seen in full makeup and nice clothes, during the end of the 1960s however the Women's liberation began to change this. The Yellow strapline at the bottom of the page covers over the woman making it more prominent and suggesting that it is of more importance. The text written on it in full capitals 'Seven Star Improvements for your kitchen' suggests that the audience posses a kitchen that they would like to improve. During this time after the WWII very few women could get jobs and so society enforced a new ethos for the lives of women. Women were taught that their purpose was to become a mother and to act as a housewife instead of getting a job, this Magazine reinforces this idea. It further shows a typical 'keeping up with the jones' ideology of having the next best household equipment and kitchen.

The use of the pull quote from Alfred Hitchcock who was a the rather famous film director of 'Psycho' and 'Vertigo'. In many of Hitchcock's films women play interesting and different heroine roles, however in Shakespeare-like fashion the women in his films are all either killed by the end or given a brutal lesson for stepping out of place in society.

Magazine – Codes and Conventions

Here are some of the codes and conventions which encapsulate the audience of a magazine simply on the front cover:

Layout - The design of a page of a magazine, including the composition of written text, images, graphics etc

Headline - Written text that indicates the content of an article, usually in a large font, and positioned at the top of the page

Masthead - The title of the magazine, usually positioned at the top of the front cover and the contents page, it establishes a a sense of the magazine's brand identity.

Sidebar - A brief article or story on a page - may be placed in a box or written in a different font to separate it from the main article

Feature - A key visual element on the front cover that usually dominates the page. It could be a model/celebrity or other picture that is relevant to the magazine content.

Pull quotes - Key phrases from an article that are featured in a larger font to attract attention.

Anchorage - Where text is used to 'pin down' the meaning of an image.

Strap-line - Short phrase encapsulating the essence of the magazine, usually positioned below the masthead

Brand identity - This communicates a clear message about the magazine to the target audience, it includes the image of the magazine (masthead, style, design etc). as well as its ethos and values.

Some other codes and conventions:

Cover (featuring masthead, strapline, main image, cover lines, banner, date, barcode and price)

Editor’s letter - Introduction to the magazines -ideals and ethos

Publishing information page - Authors information, ISBN, title of book etc

Readers’ letters - Letters given in by readers perhaps asking for specific content-gives a sense of community

Regular features (relevant to the sub-genre of magazine)

Feature articles (double page spread or extended features over several pages, including headline, 

stand first, pull quotes/ sidebars, images etc.)

Advertising, including advertorials -First person account of a product.

Competitions - draws in audience for chance to win

Consistent house style across the magazine - a reoccurring 'internal' style e.g red borders, common logo, reoccurring text font.

Newspapers-Audience

Stuart Hall - Reception Theory

Another of Stuart hall's theories is the Reception theory. It asserts that media texts are encoded with messages and values by the produces which are decoded by the audience. Different audience members will decode the media in different ways and possibly not the way the producer originally intended. 

The theory states that the members of the audience will adopt one of three positions when decoding the text:

Dominant or Preferred reading - How the produces of the text want the audience to decode/view said text. They will assert thus position if the messages are clear to them; they can follow the narrative; they can recognise age and culture cues and the themes shown are relevant to said audience.

Oppositional Reading - When the audience reject the Producers intended message and create their own meaning of the text. This can occur when the text deals with controversial themes that the audience has an opposite view upon. It may also occur when members of the audience are unable to receive age and culture appropriate cues which leads them to decode the text in a different way to the intended way.

Negotiated Reading - When the audience compromise between dominant and oppositional reading; the audience will decode some of the messages in the intended way and then others unintentionally. This could occur when the audience understand the age and culture cues but the narrative is to complex which inhibits a misunderstanding.