Evaluation Question 2

Q2 How does your product represent particular social groups?

I think a key thing in my product is the social group I am trying to represent, and how other people might interpret this representation. My magazine genre is hip hop but mostly the rap side, and as everybody knows there has only ever been one rapper who was white who was successful and actually good. When I showed my magazine to a friend I got asked where all the big artists like Snoop Dog (or Snoop Lion) was. I explained we had to use our own images and then he lost interest in the magazine. I mentioned some artists in text on the cover but it wasn’t enough. However he did say that the lack of emotional facial expressions did represent the lack of emotion in the kind of people that listen to rap. So that’s a victory on my part at least.

I suppose this also brings me onto the audience this reflects. I asked a few people on what audience they thought my magazine was aimed at. Some said teenagers, some said people who were brought up in the ghetto and can relate to the music. My magazine conforms to what music they listen to, as my magazine is hip hop, rap does fit in there. But if this particular social group picked up my magazine, would it appeal to them? Maybe if it had big names in there, but if it lacks those names they won’t be interested.

In terms of stereotypes, which is important in any media product, my magazine does not quite fit in to mainstream audience, and more niche audiences may show some interest. This is because when It comes to hip hop, the stereotype is normally people of ethnic origin being the artists, and my product contains the exact opposite. There have been some exceptions but when we think of hip hop we normally consider this stereotype.

So in terms of representing the audiences and social groups my magazine has hit the mark in some cases and in others it hasn’t. However in terms of whether it would appeal to the mainstream audiences is a target I haven’t quite reached.