Advertising case study 2: Represent NHS Blood campaign

Our second close-study product for Advertising and Marketing is the 2016 NHS Blood and Transplant online campaign video 'Represent' featuring Lady Leshurr.

This product provides an excellent opportunity to explore a range of different representations: ethnicity, masculinity, femininity, class, age, disability and ability and place. 

Sample questions for Advertising and Marketing

In your Media exams, you are likely to get questions similar to these:

1) Why do advertisers use stereotypes? [6 marks]

2) Explain how advertisements reflect the historical context in which they were created. [12 marks]

Represent: background information


Lady Leshurr is an English rapper, singer and producer. She is famous for her freestyling rap style and has her own clothing line. 

This is the advert CSP:

The two articles we read in the lesson provide details on the campaign and how it was developed. This also gives information on why blood from people with a BAME background is so vital. 

GLOW words to use in connection to this campaign

• Literal – the actual, obvious meaning 
• Semiotics - the message behind what you see (hidden messages)
• Reinforce stereotype – when a representation is what we expect
• Challenge/subvert stereotype - When a representation goes against what we normally see in the media
• Mass - A mass audience is made up of a large group of people (men, women, children, elderly)
• Niche - A niche audience is a small subset with very unique interests or characteristics 

Codes and conventions of rap music videos

• There are many low-angled, close up shots in hip hop videos, to imply the artists’ power over their audience. The low angle gives them the power, because they look down on the audience and the close up gives status because it implies they’re important enough to have a frame to themselves.
• Sections of direct contact with the camera (the artist usually spends a lot of time looking straight into the camera as if to talk or have a conversation with the audience and relate to them)
• Props regarding costume tend to be used, for e.g. gold jewellery (male rap artists are commonly known to wear heavy chains or prominent rings)
• Show a clear display of emotions – if the tone of the song is angry, the artist is likely to present this through their gestures and facial expressions.
• Strong editing cuts between concept / performance and narrative.

Represent NHS Blood & Transplant campaign: blog tasks

Work through the tasks in this blogpost to make sure you're an expert on this CSP.

Re-watch the Represent video and then watch the 'making of' video:




1) What does BAME stand for?

2) Why is there a need for blood in the BAME community? 

3) What does this advert want people to do once they've seen it ('call to action')?

4) Why is the advert called 'Represent'?

5) Why have the producers chosen famous BAME celebrities to feature in the advert? Give an example of three well-known people who appear in the advert and why they are famous.

6) Why is there a slow-paced long shot of empty chairs at the end of the advert?

7) How does the advert match the key conventions of a typical rap music video?

8) How does the advert subvert stereotypes? Give three examples (e.g. ethnicity, masculinity, femininity, age, class, disability/ability etc.) 


9) How does the advert reinforce certain stereotypes of the BAME community? Could there be an oppositional reading where some audiences would find this advert offensive or reinforcing negative stereotypes?

10) Choose one key scene from the advert and write an analysis of the connotations of camera shots and mise-en-scene (CLAMPS).



Grade 8/9 extension tasks

1) How does the advert use genre and intertextuality to appeal to the target audience?

2) How is celebrity endorsement or star power used to make the campaign stand out?

3) Research the following stars in more detail: Lady Leshurr, Ade Adepitan, Kanya King. Why are they famous? How do they help the campaign reach different segments of the niche BAME audience?

4) Read this MOBO press release about the "B Positive" campaign - the follow-up to the Represent advert. How does it aim to build on the success of the Represent campaign?


You will have lesson time to answer these questions but will need to complete for homework - due on Thursday 4 April. 

Media Awards 2019: The Nominations

The nominations are in for the Media Awards 2019!

It's one week until the Media Awards and we've had an incredibly difficult job narrowing down some amazing work to finalise the nominations for 2019. This year, we'll be awarding prizes for last year's GCSE music videos as well as this year's GCSE and A Level coursework. The quality level at both GCSE and A Level is just remarkable and there has been a lot of very good work that hasn't made the cut.

If you haven't been before, the Media Awards is our Oscars-style ceremony where we award trophies for the best Media coursework at GCSE and A Level. It's a major event in the Greenford calendar and tickets have completely sold out for each of the last FIVE years. The details for this year's awards:

Date: Tuesday 26 March
Time: 6pm - 8pm
Tickets: £5

Tickets will go on sale on Tuesday 19 March (with exclusive presale for Media students on Monday 18 March).

Remember - you need to be quick. The event sold out in just four days last year!

A Level nominations

BEST A LEVEL SOUND DESIGN
Aranjit Panesar: Above and Beyond
Ricardo McCalla: No Civilians
Mariam Ahmadyar: Lola

BEST A LEVEL CINEMATOGRAPHY
Shivam Sorathia: Fear
Nickholi Drummond: Truth Be Told
Jagraj Sanghera: Impulsive

BEST A LEVEL PRODUCTION DESIGN
Gurpreet Hakim: High School Teen
Saira Abubacker: Emily
Shareen Rauf: Bookworm

BEST A LEVEL EDITING
Riki Verma: Rock and a Hard Place
Krissah Rolle: The Section
Areej Mehdi: A Sight For Sore Eyes

BEST A LEVEL COMING-OF-AGE DRAMA CONCEPT
Harkiran Dhaliwal
Riki Verma: Rock and a Hard Place
Natasha Bantleman: Deceit

BEST A LEVEL HORROR CONCEPT
Shivam Sorathia: Fear
Krissah Rolle: The Section
Areej Mehdi: A Sight For Sore Eyes


GCSE nominations

BEST GCSE MUSIC VIDEO CONCEPT
Anosha Usman: Scars To Your Beautiful
Tayvon St Louis: My Story
Rio Davis: Play That Funky Music
Kamarl McIntosh-Gordon: Changes 
Mandeep Gruvar: Sing Me To Sleep

BEST GCSE MUSIC VIDEO EDITING
Kyle McLeod: 1-800-277-8255
Daniel Dakoli: Revenge
Lakshana Susinthiran: BB
Hassan Barreh: Silence
Tharshana Manivannan: New Person, Same Old Mistakes

BEST GCSE MUSIC VIDEO PRODUCTION DESIGN
Dalia Kerim: Finders Keepers
Kian Upfold: Can’t Hold Us
Lud Daniel-Abrha: Where Is The Love?
Sajin Miah: Location
Sufyan Aziz: Sun Comes Up

BEST GCSE TV DRAMA CINEMATOGRAPHY
Ayham Shawish: Man on the Run
Silver Bholar-Harford: It’s Time
Taranpreet Dhaliwal: Hybrid
Cerys McNeil: Flashback
Barbara Chrzanowska: Blue Castle

BEST GCSE TV DRAMA ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Meer Rahim: Institutionalised
William Wagon-Horrix: The Strange Case of Professor Noble
Lola Heath: Girl of the Sun
Rhea Vargawal: Lifeless
Savannah Charles: Break the System

BEST GCSE TV DRAMA EDITING
Aishwarya Odedra: A5H
Jenny Ramos Silva:  Machina
Karan Juneja: Control
Mathusan Thevathasan: New Life
Aidan Kapasiawala: Experiment 101

BEST ACTOR 2019
Meer Rahim
Riki Verma
Karan Juneja
Cameron Nanco

BEST ACTRESS 2019
Lola Heath
Aishwarya Odedra
Areej Mehdi
Annya Ranshi

Congratulations to all our nominees and we look forward to seeing you at the Media Awards on Tuesday 26 March!

Magazine CSPs: blog feedback and learner response

You will be receiving blog feedback for your magazine CSP case studies from your teacher via email this week.

This is a very important opportunity to reflect on the first exam CSPs you have studied in GCSE Media Studies. We know these products will come up in the exam so this reflection gives us the chance to identify the areas we need to improve over the next few weeks.

To complete your learner response you must open up your email and complete the following:

1) Read your feedback carefully then copy and paste the email into a NEW blogpost in your blog called 'Magazine CSPs: Blog feedback and Learner Response'.

2) Below the feedback, complete any learner response tasks or questions written by your teacher. 

3) Finally, write three facts or statistics about both Tatler and Reveal that you've learned from these case studies.

4) Reply to the original email from your teacher confirming you have completed the learner response and provide a link to your learner response blogpost.

Remember, this is how we get better in Media Studies - so make the most of this opportunity! 

Advertising case study 1: OMO print advert

The first close-study product for Advertising and Marketing is the 1955 advert for OMO washing powder that appeared in Woman's Own magazine.

This product provides an excellent opportunity to analyse the changing representation of women in advertising over the last 60 years. 




Sample questions for Advertising and Marketing

In your Media exams, you are likely to get questions similar to these:

- Why do advertisers use stereotypes? [6 marks]

- Explain how advertisements reflect the historical context in which they were created. [12 marks]

OMO advert: blog task

Work through the tasks in this blogpost to make sure you're an expert on this CSP.

1) What year was the advert produced?

2) How were women represented in most adverts in the 1950s?

3) How does the heading  message ('OMO makes whites bright') and typography promote the product?

4) Analyse the mise-en-scene in the advert (CLAMPS): how is costume, make-up and placement of the model used to suggest women's role in society?

5) Why is a picture of the product added to the bottom right of the advert?

6) What are the connotations of the chosen colours in this advert?

7) How does the anchorage text use persuasive language to encourage the audience to buy the product? Give examples.

8) What representation of women can be found in this OMO advert? Make specific reference to the advert and discuss stereotypes.

9) What is the preferred reading for this advert - what did the producers of the advert want the audience to think in 1955?

10) What is the oppositional reading for this advert - how might a modern audience respond to this text and the representation of women here?

Grade 8/9 extension questions

1) How much do you think things have changed over the last 60 years with regards to representations of women in advertising? Give examples from a variety of adverts

2) Read this Guardian feature on possible law changes with regards to gender representations in advertising. Do you agree with this approach?

3) Now read this Guardian feature entitled 'Mad Men and invisible women'. Why does it suggest the advertising industry has 'failed to move on'? Do you agree? Read some of the comments below the article to get a range of differing views on this topic.

You will have lesson time to answer these questions but will need to complete for homework - due on Tuesday 26 March.

Gender stereotypes in advertising

There is a long history of adverts featuring a sexist or negative representation of women.

We need to learn how adverts represent different people and groups and also how these representations have changed over time. Today, the focus is on the representation of women and the gender stereotypes that appear in many adverts.

Key words

Representation: the way a group or individual is portrayed in the media.

Normalised: when something becomes considered ‘normal’ or ‘usual’

Stereotype: viewing a group or individual in a fixed, over-simplified way.

Conventions: typical features of a media product. 

Reinforce a stereotype: the representation supports our usual expectations.

Subvert a stereotype: the representation goes against our usual expectations.

How are women represented in advertising?

The stereotype of women in advertising is often negative. Representations through the history of advertising have suggested that women are inferior to men, bad drivers, powerless, sexualised or focused on domestic work (e.g. cleaning). This potentially influences media audiences and the views in wider society.

 

 















Oxo TV adverts

Explore how the representations of women have changed through these two adverts for Oxo. Are they really as different as they first appear?

1980s Oxo advert




2017 Oxo advert





Gender representation in advertising: blog task

Create a new blogpost called 'Gender representation in advertising'.

1) Find three adverts featuring women that are from the 1950s or 1960s. Save the images to your Media folder as jpegs and then import them into your blog post. Hint: You may wish to look at car, perfume or cleaning products but can use any product you wish.

2) Find three adverts featuring women that are from post-2000. Save the images to your Media folder as jpegs and then import them into your blog post.

3) What stereotypes of women can you find in the 1950s and 1960s adverts? Give specific examples. 

4) What stereotypes of women can you find in the post-2000s adverts? Give specific examples.

5) How do your findings suggest representations of gender have changed over the last 50 years? 


Extension: Find three adverts that subvert  gender stereotypes and write a paragraph about how they do this.

You will be given some lesson time to do this but will need to finish for homework - due Thursday 14 March.

Advertising and Marketing: Introduction and conventions

Our new topic is Advertising and Marketing - a vital aspect of Media Studies.

One of the key aspects to deconstructing advertisements is denotation and connotation. Remember the definitions:

Denotation: the literal meaning of something
Connotation: the suggestion behind this literal meaning (reading between the lines)

Codes and conventions of print adverts

• Picture of product
• USP - unique selling point. What is it that makes the product special or different to appeal to consumers?
• Lighting
• Setting / colour scheme
• Logo – this is usually the brand name 
• Slogan – this is a catchy phrase summing up the ethos of the product e.g Nike’s ‘Just Do It’

Adverts will often use unique and interesting ways to attract the attention of the target audience. This might be: innovative branding; clever use of space; unconventional or subversive ideas; emotional connections or shock / controversy.

Introduction to advertising: blog task

Create a new blogpost called 'Advertising key conventions'. Find a print advert of your choice using Google Images and save it to your folder on the Media Shared drive. Add it to your blogpost using the 'Insert image' button and then answer the questions below:

1) What key conventions of an advert can you find and what are the connotations of each one?

2) For each convention, write about how this appeals to a target audience. 

3) What is the USP (unique selling point) of the product and how do you know?

Look at the Maltesers example below if you are unsure how to complete any of these tasks:

Example - Maltesers

Conventions

• Pictures of the product (Maltesers) to remind us of the type of product it is. The image also reinforces the word ‘lighter’ as the chocolate dance and jump off the floor. 
• The Logo is bright and large in the centre of the advert. The word ‘malt’ relates to the flavours used and ‘tesers’ is a play on the word ‘tease’ which ties in with the playful, light ethos. 
• The Background features the heavy use of red. It is bright and eye-catching with connotations of love. This makes the consumer recognise the brand colour and makes them think they love the product, or may gift it to someone they love. 
• The Slogan at the bottom is clearly visible and stands out against the background. ‘Lighter’ and ‘enjoy’ reinforce the USP – that Maltesers are slightly healthier chocolate. 
• The Colour Scheme is red and white - recognisable from the packets of Maltesers, creating a brand identity. 

Extension task

If you have completed an in-depth analysis of an advert of your choice, do some additional research into creative or powerful print advertising. 

Task: Find a an example of a print advert for EACH of the following:

1) A clear brand identity

2) A shocking or controversial idea

3) An emotional connection to audience

4) An innovative or ‘different’, subversive concept (e.g the porcupine advertising VW car)

5) A foreign advert that you can understand despite the language barrier

Finally, write what the USP is for each advert.

Complete the initial questions for homework if you don't finish them in the lesson. Due: next Thursday.

Print Magazines: Reveal CSP case study

Reveal is our second magazine Close Study Product. We need to study the media language and representation of people and groups on the front cover of Reveal April 2017.

The key notes from the lesson are here:

General

• According to publisher Hearst: "Reveal is the reader’s best friend: fun, gossipy and full of advice on everything from fashion and beauty to diets and cocktails. We know who's dating whom, who has fallen out with their best friend, whose relationship is in tatters and who's finding motherhood hard. Our high-street fashion is affordable…"
• Reveal’s tag-line is ‘Talking with you, not at you!” which implies that the magazine wants to be seen as a friend to its readers,  sharing secrets about the lives of famous celebrities.  It is released weekly and costs 99p.
• The Editor claims: ‘It delivers glamour, gossip and giggles’ which reinforces the magazine’s identity as a ‘girl’s best friend’. 
• Star Appeal: The magazine consistently uses images of celebrities - paparazzi shots as well as posed shots for authenticity. 
• It focuses on celebrity relationships and fashion and beauty tips for ‘every day’ women (for example testing high street brands which are more affordable for readers.)
• The magazine itself is affordable at only 99p so it wants to maintain an audience who can afford to buy it regularly and whenever they see something eye-catching on the cover. 
• The demographic buying Reveal are mostly adult women, aged 18-34. Unlike Tatler, which is London and South of England-centric, Reveal is bought by women all over the country.  Its readership also spans a much wider set of social classes, from ABC1-C2DE. Psychographic groups for Reveal would largely be strugglers or mainstreamers.

Media language

• Typography / Fonts:  Sans serif fonts are used to make the magazine feel modern, informal and offering the latest gossip. Handwritten fonts are also used to make the magazine more personal – the reader’s ‘friend’.
• Cover lines: Indirect address favoured by celebrity gossip magazines so it seems like you have just seen them yourself – emphasises the gossip feel. Informal language ‘stuff the diet’ and ‘yay’ make this magazine youthful and accessible.
• Colour scheme: Red, yellow and pink. Bright colours to attract attention – important with no main central image. Gossip magazines tend to be busier and more packed with images to suggest issues that are bursting with different stories.

Representations

• The people represented on the cover are mostly celebrities and well known actors, reality television stars and music artists. Why?
• Celebrities are presented as important and desirable – but the photography is designed to make them look like ‘normal’ people.

Social and cultural contexts

• The cover lines in Reveal focus on a few key areas:
• Domesticity and families: ‘baby bump’, ‘mum’ 
• Relationships: normative and subversive as words are used such as‘stalker’, ‘secret meetings’ and ‘sex’. Focus is on relationship breakdowns. 
• Beauty: Diets and skin care are mentioned but these take into account ‘normal’ people since the focus is on previously thin celebrities giving up diets and enjoying treating themselves and, instead of promoting expensive products, the skin care is ‘one simple trick’.
• Socially, this magazine wants to be like a ‘friend’ in terms of gossip and advice. It also is keen to relate to its working class, mainstream audience and not alienate them by featuring unaffordable, luxury items.

Reveal: case study blog task

Work through the following tasks and questions to build a detailed case study for Reveal - 18 March 2017 (below). This will give you plenty of background information to use in an exam question on print magazines.

General

Look through the slides from the lesson on Reveal and use this information and your own research and analytical skills to answer the questions below. 




1) Based on your research, what type of people read Reveal? Consider demographics and psychographics.

2) Look at the lesson slides: how does the editor introduce Reveal magazine?

3) What is the difference between the Reveal and Tatler target audiences?

4) What issues are Reveal readers interested in?



Media language

1) How many of the 12 magazine cover key conventions feature on this edition of Reveal?

2) What is the font choice used on the cover and what does this choice connote? 

3) How do the cover lines appeal to the Reveal target audience?

4) What are the connotations of the Reveal colour scheme on this particular front cover?

5) How are images used to create interest in the magazine? Find three reasons for your answer. (E.g. mise-en-scene such as props, costume and make-up, body position, facial expression).

6) What differences can you find between the use of design and typography between Tatler and Reveal? List at least three and explain the effect on audiences.

Representations

1) What different groups of people are represented on the cover? (Look at the image and text/cover lines)

2) What type of celebrities are represented on the front cover?

3) Are there any stereotypes being reinforced or subverted? How? Why?


4) What view of celebrities does Reveal want the reader to have?

5) What would be the preferred and oppositional readings to this cover of Reveal?

Social and cultural context

1) What aspects of British life are reflected in Reveal? How does this compare to Tatler?

2) What do the cover lines in Reveal suggest about the issues and lifestyle of Reveal readers?

3) Find three other front covers for Reveal. What issues or features regularly appear in Reveal? 

4) Do any celebrities appear on more than one front cover of Reveal? Why do you think they are particularly popular with Reveal readers?


Grade 8/9 extension tasks

1) How does the front cover engage audiences with possible narratives? Look for stories, cliffhangers, dramatic cover lines etc.

2) What are paparazzi images and why are they crucial to the front cover of Reveal? 

3) How does the front cover juxtapose text and images to create contrast and narrative on the front cover of Reveal 18 March 2017?

4) What do these two magazines suggest about representations of social class in the British media?

Complete for homework - due Thursday after half-term.