Levi's Adverts

Levi’s Adverts

The recent adverts for Levi’s are strongly focused around America and American teenage life.

In the Levi’s advert ‘beautiful morning’, we see a man/boy sneaking out of what appears to be a one-night stand and acting in a very typical ‘boyish’ way as he struts down the street in his Levi’s. He acts quite cocky and full of himself. The shot is a long shot so we are able to see exactly how he struts down the street - we can see his whole body as he does so. This can be linked to Stuart Halls audience theory, as a leather jacket is a "recognised convention" of a typical 'bad boy', making the audience believe that that is exactly what he is. This meets the audience's "expectations" of someone dressed this way and walking in this style. 

It represents American teenage life to be quite scandalous with the boys being ‘bad boys’, and the girls being a bit more sensitive as the girl can be seen shaking her head when she wakes up and notices he has left. The boy enters what appears to be a coffee shop and he seems to be quite flirtatious with the waitress, this links to Stuart Halls theory of representation as it represents him as being a ‘bad boy’ and being very confident and cocky. This meaning is given to him through the way he is depicted with his flirtatious actions, just as Hall says. However, at the end of the advert, we find out that he went to this shop to get the girl breakfast and bring it back to her in her apartment. 

This instantly changes our view of him and makes him seem very sweet. He is now represented as being caring, as though the males and females have reversed roles. So overall, after this ending, I would say it represents Americans as being thoughtful, especially the males.

In the other recent advert ‘Circles’, American teenage life is represented as being fun loving and care free, as it shows Americans of all cultures dancing freely in their Levi’s. The mise-en-scène in terms of lighting and costumes also supports this representation as the lights are bright and exciting and the costumes are colourful and quirky. This links against to Halls theory as the way they're depicted in their costumes and with their happy facial expressions, allows meaning to be given to them, in that they're represented as being exciting and radiant. This representation might be attractive to British teenagers, as they would aspire to be this joyful as well. They all seem to be having a very good time and others would see it and want to be a part of it. They all seem so full of life and excitement, so it would really appeal to British teenagers.

The other advert – ‘Beautiful Morning’, would be attractive/ seductive to British female teenagers as the boy that is featured is very charming and caring, like every girl would want. He appears to be a ‘bad boy’ at the start, which might attract or seduce some girls as it is, but when he shows his thoughtful side at the end, most girls may be attracted to him.

I think the ‘circles’ advert erodes cultural differences because every single group that is shown dancing is from a different culture/ race. There are Jews, Muslims, black people, white people, Asians and more. The advert shows all of them dancing and having a great time, they’re all united through a common interest, which is their jeans. It shows how all cultures have fun and are actually all very similar in terms of how they have fun. They’re united through their Levi’s and I think this is a very clever and subtle way of eroding cultural differences.

Research of Institution 2: Bauer Media

Research of Institutions 2: Bauer Media

About Bauer Media

“Bauer Media UK is an entertainment network of iconic, multi-platform brands.

The business became part of the Bauer Media Group, Europe’s largest privately-owned media group, in 2008. Founded in Hamburg in 1875 and now in its fifth generation of family ownership, the Bauer Media Group operates in 19 countries including the UK, Germany, Poland, Australia, New Zealand and the USA and has 11,000 employees worldwide.”

https://www.bauermedia.co.uk/about/our-company

 Analysis of the homepage

In the centre of the homepage we can see an example of cross media convergence, as there is a montage of constantly changing images with the different media forms Bauer produces at the bottom. It is eye-catching and makes the viewer more intrigued as it is quite unique. This would also attract a younger audience. Although the images are constantly changing, the sell line remains there throughout which is very clever because people will always be reminded of the mass audience Bauer Media has, “25 million people” and the multiple brands they own “107 brands”. Therefore, they will believe in its success.

In the bottom right of the constantly moving image, there is a banner that also changes when the image does. This adds information about the image making it easy for the viewer to understand. This makes it very helpful and a positive feature of the website.

The homepage also includes the “latest news” a bit further down. This is all about Bauer and their brands, so it helps the readers to stay updated with what they have been doing and achieving. It is updated constantly so the audience never falls behind. This would make it appeal to a more middle aged audience because they might like to check what is happening with Bauer and their brands.

Conventions

 

At the top of the homepage there are a range of hyperlinks that each take you to a different page providing different information. This is a convention as you would expect this from all websites. It is very useful and helpful because it means that the information is clearly organised and that it is easy for the audience to find exactly what they’re looking for.

Another convention of a website is pictures and Bauer’s website contains lots of these. It has the montage of images on the homepage along with many more on each of the different links. They make it more interesting and exciting which engages the reader as it isn’t just plain and boring. This would interest a younger audience because they tent to need pictures to become interested whereas older adults would manage with just the writing.

The masthead is in the top corner of the website. This is normally the case for all websites, making it a convention. It is useful because you can see what their logo is so you know if you ever see it somewhere that it is Bauer Media.

Genre

The overall genre is entertainment but within this there are sub genres, such as radio, music and fashion etc.

Audience

I think that the audience for this website will be young adults – middle aged adults. I think that the pictures make it more enticing for younger adults, but the amount of good information will attract middle aged adults.

I think that it will also attract people who have started small institutions and are seeking help or advise on what they should do to become as successful as Bauer.

This can be found at the bottom of the homepage and it clearly depicts how they are trying to help people with their brands. It portrays them as being very helpful and friendly.

Also, it would attract job seekers as there are jobs available with Bauer. This is also found at the bottom of the homepage so is easy to access and it is very easy to then apply for a job.

Stuart Halls theory of representation can be applied here as well because Bauer Media are represented on this website as being exciting and quite original. Exciting is represented through the use of bright colours as well as the constant moving image and originality is represented through the use of the unique sections, for example the part where viewers are able to match Bauer’s audience to their brand.

The Big Issue History

The Big Issue from beccabarnes27

Magazine Front Cover Analysis

This Slimming World magazine has a niche audience. The audience would be young- middle aged woman who are wanting to lose weight. The cover features a woman who has lost lots of weight which will make this audience want to buy it even more because they will be inspired by her and want to look as good as she does. Adjectives like ‘amazing’ are used to describe how good she looks which again persuades these women to buy it, as well as a quite from the woman, “Now I believe in myself”. Seeing this quote would really encourage them to buy as they would want to have the confidence that she has and would want to feel and look as good as she now does.

There are subheadings such as ‘The health danger you need to know about (and how losing weight can help)’. These sort of sentences are what will make people want to buy the magazine because they will feel worried when they see this that their health is poor and that they could be at risk of a serious health disease. The magazine almost sells itself as a solution, so women will buy it to find out what they should do. At the very top, it says that the magazine is ‘The UK’s no1 slimming magazine’ , which makes it sound very impressive and the best of its category which will encourage people to purchase. As previously mentioned, the use of the quote "Now I believe in myself" is very effective. It is a word sign as the use of "now" signifies that she had no confidence before, and it is only after joining slimming world and losing weight that she believes in herself. It almost suggests that you go on a journey and not only do you feel more confident from losing weight, but you also prove to yourself that you are capable of doing it and so you feel powerful.

In terms of mise-en-scéne, the ‘cover stars’ costume is colourful, and the top of it matches the orange text around it. This visual sign makes the orange colour scheme clear throughout and it is quite a joyful colour which could signify the fact that the woman on the front feels joy due to her weight loss. It makes the magazine look quirky and inviting. The woman’s make up is quite dramatic, with again an orange coloured lipstick and heavy winged eyeliner. The make-up again, is a visual sign, as it signifies that she is confident, as her make up is bold and makes a statement, suggesting she feels bold inside and ready to show off to the world. Her new found confidence will be from the weight loss, making the readers aspire to lose weight and feel like her. The woman is positioned with her hands on her hip in quite a confident pose also, which again reflects her new found confidence. The shot type is sort of in between a medium long shot and a medium shot - it shows more than just the waist up but it isn't quite her full body. As most of her body is included in the shot, I think from this, she is represented as being proud and confident again.

The woman’s face is covering a part of the mast head which is placed at the top of the magazine making it a convention. This could be so you are drawn to her face, which looks extremely proud and happy as she is smiling into the camera. Looking into the camera is also a convention of a magazine. This is effective as because she is looking into the camera, her eyes follow you, which engages the reader and almost forces you to buy it.

The colours used contrast really well because the back ground is white and the text is in orange and black, so everything stands out well. I think the background being white is effective because it makes the woman stand out more and look like the main feature.

There is a yellow circle to the right of her and in the middle it says ‘Win! A Cyrpus beach excape worth £2,000.’ This is very clever because the word ‘Win!’ is in a big black font so it grabs your attention and you read the text underneath which persuades you to purchase as everyone would want to win a beach holiday. Another persuasive feature is the sentence ‘Eat like an Italian and lose weight’. This uses stereotypes as it is suggesting Italians eat lots of food, it is persuasive as everyone would want to be able to eat lots of nice food and lose weight at the same time.

The price of £2.95 is relatively cheap for all of the recipes you will get inside (34). This will mean more people will buy it as it is affordable for most people, so it won’t just be upper class people that will buy it, it could well be working class and middle class. The magazine also links to Stuart Halls theory of representation because the woman is represented as being confident and proud, she represents all of the women who are losing weight.

The magazine uses direct address ‘Achieve your dreams’. This makes the reader feel as though they’re being targeted and it will make them want to buy it and lose weight because they will want to achieve their dreams, and this magazine tells them they will do so.

According to Curran and Seaton, "Newspapers and magazines respond to the concerns of their readers if they are to stay in business." This magazine clearly addresses the readers concerns because it is all about losing weight and how to do it, and the only people buying it would be those who want to lose weight. Therefore it is a perfect example of this theory.
Also, it links to Stuart Hall's theory of representation because the magazine uses the 'cover star' to represent people who have successfully lost weight with Slimming World. She is visually represented through her big smile, bold make up and colourful clothes, as well as posture, as being very confident and happy.