woman brand identity- catch up

“Brand identity is how a business presents itself to and wants to be perceived by its consumers.”

What essential aspects must be considered when a brand constructs its brand identity?

• preferred reading (stuart hall reception theory)
• audience positioning
• models used
• colours
• mode of address
• lexis
• strapline
• brand name
• logo + graphics

Vogue covers A-list celebrities whilst in Woman magazine, the woman on the front cover is practically unknown. The model on the cover of vogue also has on more professional and exaggerated makeup, meanwhile the other has quite minimalistic and basic makeup. The mise-en-scene of each models' facial expressions differ in terms of how comfortable they both seem, Sophia Loren looks straight into the camera with excessive charisma whilst the model in woman mag looks slightly nervous and seems to be trying too hard to look happy. 
Vogue establishes more drama through the clothing and accessory of which are probably of an exotic brand, this connotes classy international and diverse fashion sense, whilst woman mag clearly stays local-centric with its fashion sense, focusing on the minimalistic yet homely look of British women. 
Sophia Loren also has a much darker skin tone, which again beg the idea that she is 'exotic', new, different and exciting. Woman mag however lacks representation of any racial diversity, with it's symbolic annihilation, purely looking at heterosexual, middle aged, white women. 
Vogue mag uses ambiguous vocabulary, relying on its sophisticated lexis to allure the reader. Any copy of the magazine is completely overshadowed by the image, forcing the reader to be intrigued by the mystery of what they will be covering. Woman magazine is rather straight forward, however, in its front cover copy, making sure it is highly visible to the reader, whilst also directly informing the audience what exactly they will be covering.

Monthly glossy high-end fashion magazine targeting middle-class women 

Strong, confident mode of address – cool and she knows it

Lack of clutter – stylish and chic

Bold, exclusive lexis

High end, unobtainable fashion choice

Exotic and challenging mise-en-scene

Aspirational and middle class

weekly woman’s lifestyle magazine targeting working-class women 

Friendly mode of address – your mate from down the road

Cluttered cover emphasises fun over fashion

Inclusive, laid back lexis

Easily approachable fashion choice

Model is approachable, maternal every-woman

Mise-en-scene familiar and obtainable

Familiar and working class

To what extent are Woman and Adbusters examples of specialised and institutionalised media products? Make reference to their distribution and circulation.

Institution: an organisation with a specific brand identity

Since its launch, Woman has competed with Woman’s Own (Newnes) and Woman’s Weekly (Amalgamated) to be the top-selling title. The three great rivals ended up as sister titles when their companies merged to become IPC. Their sales peaked in about 1959, at about 2.6m, 3.1m and 1.8m each.

In 1937 Odhams (now IPC) opens printing plant in Watford, Herts with Speedry Gravure Process for colour printing. Woman launched weekly in June with low cover price, 2d, for a full-colour magazine. Within a year, the title was selling 500,000 copies a week.

IPC- international publishing corporation 

The International Publishing Corporation Ltd was formed in 1963 following the merger of the UK's three leading magazine publishers - George Newnes, Odhams Press and Fleetway Publications - who came together with the Mirror Group to form the International Publishing Corporation (IPC). And IPC Magazines was created five years later, in 1968. The Field, launched in 1853, joined the IPC stable in 1994. IPC was acquired by Time Warner in 2001 and was renamed Time Inc. UK in 2014 after Time Inc. acquired the company in connection with its spinoff from Time Warner. Shortly after Time Inc.’s subsequent acquisition by Meredith Corporation in 2018, Time Inc. UK was acquired by Epiris LLP and rebranded to TI Media in June 2018.

it is mainstream, as shown on their website by this quote; 'Over 40 iconic media brands that captivate and inspire millions of people every day across print, online, mobile, tablets and experiences.'

'There are many ways to work with us; advertising to our audiences, renting lists from our customer database or acquiring our content or images.'

They now represent magazines such as Marie Claire and the horse and hounds.

Key theory 12 – power and media industries – Curran and Seaton

• The media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the profit and power
• Media concentration limits variety, creativity and quality
• More socially diverse patterns of ownership can create more varied and adventurous media productions.

Woman magazine is BASIC and has BORING coverage.
They do this purposely to manipulate women to be as simple and as straightforward as possible, through cultivation, leaving men at the top of the hierarchy.

Woman magazine gives its 'tactics' on how to survive life to women, as if their life were a game or a war and that they must fight other women to come out alive. Survival of the prettiest, possibly.

The mention of 'A-Level Beauty' gives the impression that the target audience are guaranteed to be at a level of which is not advanced, and can only reach that level if they are to follow the instructions or 'tactics' of the magazine. This is extremely condescending and establishes a negative ideology that reinforces a patriarchal ideology that states that only children are cute and so to look girly and cute, women must aspire to look as young as possible.

Age certificate guide

U Universal – Suitable for all

A U film should be suitable for audiences aged four years and over, although it is impossible to predict what might upset any particular child.

U films should be set within a positive framework and should offer reassuring counterbalances to any violence, threat or horror. If a work is particularly suitable for pre-school children, this will be indicated in the ratings info.

Dangerous behaviour

Potentially dangerous or anti-social behaviour which young children may copy must be clearly disapproved of. No emphasis on realistic or easily accessible weapons.

Discrimination

Discriminatory language or behaviour is unlikely to be acceptable unless clearly disapproved of. 

Drugs

References to illegal drugs or drug misuse must be infrequent and innocuous, or have a clear educational purpose or anti-drug message suitable for young children.

Language

Infrequent use only of very mild bad language.

Nudity

Occasional nudity, with no sexual context.

Sex

Only very mild sexual behaviour (for example, kissing) and references to such behaviour.

Threat and horror

Scary or potentially unsettling sequences should be mild, brief and unlikely to cause undue anxiety to young children. The outcome should be reassuring.

Violence

Violence will generally be very mild. Mild violence may be acceptable if it is justified by context (for example, comedic, animated, wholly unrealistic)

comparing the representations of women in adbusters and woman

How have the representations in the magazines you have studied been shaped by sociohistorical and cultural circumstances?

 The 'sex, drugs and rock and roll' lifestyle of 1964 is not reflected at all in woman, woman are portrayed in a sexist manner despite slight elements of feminism. Adbusters was made in a complete different time which revolved around equality which is reflected in the magazine and particularly contrasts with 

-Simplistic layout, centred to the left.

-the dominant colour of the design is the white, with blue and small parts of black

-the image is positioned at the top so it's the first thing you see according to the z format whilst the text is the last

-the font is small but the black typography makes it stand out against the white background

-the images is a high angled close up preventing the model from having an identity, gender or sexual premise- the focus of the photo is her hands and the fact she is in the bath rather than her figure

- the lighting is natural preventing the photo from feeling staged adding to the impact of the ideology encoded by the producer

-the location is the bath, the text anchors it as in brazil

-rather than a costume the model is naked and you can see her tattoos

-the only form of graphics is the photo's border, which has a colloquial effect

-The audience is not directly addressed 

-informative lexis 

-wrinkly hands, polysemic luxury or poverty

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-high angle close up of tap

-mise-en-scene of woman's body

-mid shot suggests having a bath 

One fundamental difference with regards to the sociohistorical context of the magazines I have studied can be seen in their respective representations of women. For example, Adbusters uses a high-angled close up shot to position the audience in a non-sexual viewerpoint of the model, any stimulating parts of her naked body aren't in the frame preventing the audience from sexualising her at all- the close up shot also suggests that having a bath is a private and intimate activity- not for the purpose of others. 

The breeze ad from woman completely contrasts with these ideologies encoded by the producers. The mid-shot of the woman allows her to be a spectacle for the readers and positions them as a voyeur to her naked body, it also suggests having a bath is an open experience, the empty frame functions as a symbolic code for this. The mise-en-scene of the bubbles denote to the audience that her body is wet, implicating sexual themes. In addition, the mise-en-scene of her hair and makeup represents women as people who must look good at all times, despite the fact that in the bath this would be next to impossible- this encodes hegemonical, stereotypical representations of women which were incredibly common at the time of adbuster's release.

Adbuster's subverts the male gaze theory, which suggests that all women featured in media products are only their to visually appease heterosexual men, with it's lack of sexual and scopophilliac themes.

adbuster second double page spread

As a theme adbusters lacks anchorage and general context, not told where sao paulo is. The Producer's assume the audience know a lot or can google it.

The woman remains unnamed with minimal anchorage.

The mise-en-scene of the woman's wrinkly hands demonstrates an excess of water. The image is luxurious in comparison to the water shortage in Brazil creating a binary opposition- but it is not a luxurious. To be so, it could have more water, bubbles or more of the woman could be shown. This advert is completely subversive of stereotypical representations of women- she is not portrayed in a sexual manner and the focus of the photo is that she is in the bath- but the purpose isn't to challenge representations of women, it is to showcase the inequality in society. 

It is the binary opposition of the febreeze ad.

It contrasts with the second page of the double page spread with the theme of water.

Zucchetti is a luxury brand of tap, it is beyond 'gucci' and 'prada' as it isn't based in fashion or appearance it's household appliances for people to spend £300 on a tap. There is a luxury lifestyle being sold alongside this tap.

A lot of people could buy this tap but it's very unlikely someone would unless they are upper class.

Representational issues-

Active audience response

-preferred reading is to feel sorry for those in sao paulo and to think zucchetti is unnecessary  

-audience will be unsure of sao paulo and context around the ad so they will go and google it and potentially look into the matter further

It assumes you know what a capitalist ad is about but is an anti-capitalist paper aimed at an anti-capitalist working class audience.

Adbusters is a print magazine but at the same time is a multi-media experience, audiences are encouraged to google topics. The fact it is a multi-media experience 

Traditional representations of gender

traditional representation of females are subverted by the photo of the woman, she is naked but only stereotypical non-sexual parts of her body fill the frame- you can't even see her face and evaluate her beauty. 

Commodity fetishism

Media language

adbusters double page spread analysis

Representations- 

-Black people have no water, the dry sand and squashed empty bottle function as a symbolic code for this encoded ideology

-Standing on rubbish, suggests they depend on our throwaways and connotes the third world state, black people don't have luxury in their life, mise-en-scene of bottle shoes is intertextual reference to a water ad 

-Lack of further identity other than their race- this defines them and their lifestyle. There is no further complexities such as gender, sexuality or ideology

-the page is empty to reflect their empty lifestyle 

-the feet are dirty, further lack of water

-Codes connoting lack of water guide audience to conclusion they are African

-Audience is positioned as someone taking the photo and making the joke, they're looking down at someone else's feet

How do these representations reflect the industry context/ideology of Adbusters?

- making a joke about africans and lack of privilege- like dark humour

-anti-capitalist, preferred reading is for audience to feel guilty ruining louibouton

-cynical and satirical humour

satire is humour which attacks an institution

How can Stuart Hall's theories of representation be applied?

-Very stereotypical representation

-African's are commonly represented as poor, without water and the audience are positioned to be pitied then

-Using stereotypes to make a point and be controversial

-It is trying to deliberately upset the audience

Double page spread analysis

• A confrontational and potentially racist mode of address??? A shocking and controversial set of ideologies. 
• Binary opposition is constructed between a well known high end fashion designer and the clearly home-made shoes worn by the model. Constructs an ideological perspective that the fashion industry is exclusive, and indeed harmful; to people in developing countries. 
• Binary opposition between a fashion runway and the refugees struggling to push beyond a fence. Again, constructs an ideological perspective of struggle, poverty and exploitation
• Postcolonial perspectives: a gutteral mode of address, testing the audience, and suggesting that they are also part of the problem 
• Extremely low production values on 'red soles' image, like an old cameras phone. Symbolic code of poverty, conflict and a terrible life
• Expectation of audience knowledge. Adbusters expects audience to be familiar with high end fashion brand, indicating a potentially middle class audience. Are the audience themselves the problem? Does this magazine hate me?
• High angle, birds eye view shot 'looking down' on the model is symbolic that we, as consumers of the shoes are having an impact on those in a developing country, and are indeed 'looking down' on those less fortunate than us
• Hermeneutic code of dirty feet presents a question to the audience: "why are these feet so dirty? What life do they lead? How disgusting!" 
• Breaking of hegemonic norms and values. Bottles are clearly not shoes. They are not fashionable.
• Intertextual reference to charity adverts such as the water aid advert, a criticism of Louboutins marketing strategy, selling a deliberately trashy aesthetic to extremely rich people
• Runway page: a binary opposition between harsh, high contrast black and white and rich, colour creates the symbolic connotation of a desirable lifestyle vs a hateful and horrible existence
• Accuses target audience of being guilty of force people in to poverty. Criticises the capitalist ideology that in order for one person to be rich, another must be poor and exploited. Additionally, even high end brands are often constructed in 'third world' and developing countries for much much less than in would cost otherwise. Countries such as Bangladesh and Indonesia have drastically lower wages to pay, and many fewer laws protecting workers
• Extremely sparse layout, with very little copy. Forces the audience to construct their own meaning. Complete lack of anchorage. A funny joke??? A highly inappropriate joke??? With no anchorage, the audience are left to make up their own mind.
• A double page spread
• A stereotypical representation of an African individual. No apparent gender. Utilises the codes and conventions of a charity advert. Complete lack of anchorage. 
• Slogan draws attention to the brand identity of Loubitin shoes. Red soles ere refer to bleeding feet, and to global inequality. 
• Bottles function as a symbolic code for water, drawing to attention a stereotypical lack of water in Africa. 
• Possible reference to sweatshops?
• Oppositional reading: [possibly racist and stereotypical?]
• Draws attention towards accepted truths 
• Assumption that the readers of adbusters are middle class and comfortably wealthy
• Preferred reading of guilt
• MES of bared wire and black and white creates a sense of poverty and conflict

 Commodity fetishism is obsession with a brand.

Commidity fetishism is the process of ascribing magic 'phantom like' qualities to an object/brand etc.

Stripping away the function and basing meaning on brand 

Based on marxism as a manipulation of the working class

The working class focus on commodity fetishism rather than lack of privilege

Newspapers- bias and fem theory

Cultural hegemony is the idea that certain cultures are more powerful than other cultures.


Key theory 8- Feminist theory, Lisbet Van Zoonen.

In media men act, women appear. Their role is to be looked at by heterosexual men.
Gender is constructed through discourse, it's meaning varies according to to cultural and historical context. The idea that women's bodies are to be looked at is a core element of western patriarchal culture.


Key theory 9- Feminist theory, Bell hooks

Feminism is a struggle to end patriarchal hegemony and the domination of women. It is not a lifestyle choice it's a political commitment. "Feminism is for everybody." Race, class and gender determine the extent to which people are oppressed

Lexis/choice of language

Anchorage through captions

Bias through selection of image

Carrying box of cigarettes in her mouth to make her seem irresponsible and drug addict, overall representing her as a bad mother. 

Newsworthiness

Target audience

Preferred reading

Dominant ideological perspective

Hegemony

the times front page revision

point of view and ideology 

The front page shows the paper has a middle-upper class stance, this is made clear by the large amounts of copy and serif font used- elements which also demonstrate how seriously the paper is taking the situation. this is reinforced by the large use of a black and white colour palette.

Layout and design 

The image of Theresa May is centred and fills a lot of the page- representing her as at the middle of it all and how she is the face of politics today. she is framed by the writing to establish her importance and the power she has- however, in the close-up photo she looks distraught. She has a pained facial expression and dark rings under her eyes which denote high emotions and possible lack of sleep- representing brexit and politics as tiring as well as making her look weak. 

Composition – positioning of headlines, images, columns, combination of stories

Images/photographs - camera shot type, angle, focus

the main, and only, image used on the front page is a close up of Theresa May, the use of a close up makes the photo quite unflattering, representing her negatively to readers. 

Font size, type of font (e.g. serif/sans serif)

Mise-en-scène – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/make-up

Graphics, logos 

Lexis

Copy 

Anchorage (images)

Anchorage (captions)

Narrative

Target audience and audience positioning

Proairetic codes

Hermeneutic codes

Symbolic codes

Referential codes/intertextuality

The Times newspaper is a British national ‘quality’ newspaper first published in 1785. The Times has been published by Times Newspapers since 1981, a subsidiary of News UK, wholly owned by News Corp, Rupert Murdoch’s company.

This edition was published on March 13th, 2019, after Theresa May had encountered another Commons defeat over her Brexit proposals. 

The Times is famous for having a range of journalists with varied political viewpoints which allows the newspaper to offer a more neutral political stance on Brexit negotiations

Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KCSG is an Australian-born American media mogul who founded News Corp. Murdoch's father, Sir Keith Murdoch, was a reporter and editor who became a senior executive of The Herald and Weekly Times publishing company, covering all Australian states except New South Wales.

Murdoch inherited his father's papers, the Sunday Mail and the News, and continued to purchase other media outlets over the years. In the 1970s, he started buying American newspapers.

Instead of a former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, we have Rupert Murdoch as the founder of Fox News, which for years — starting long before Donald Trump’s presidency — injected racist, anti-Semitic and anti-liberal tropes into the American mainstream (remember the war on Christmas?). Fox isn’t watched by everyone, but for those who do watch, Fox is everything. As my colleague Jon Schwarz wrote the other day, it’s possible to imagine the political violence of the past weeks occurring even if Hillary Clinton had been elected president — we can take Trump out of the equation, and we still might have crazed Americans trying to kill other Americans because of their religion, skin color, or party affiliation. But it’s impossible to imagine these attacks occurring without years of Fox News spreading the ideology of white nationalism. The network promotes conspiracy theories that begin in the bowels of the internet, and it feeds into those bowels an army of converts willing to go further than Fox & Friends dares.

the time analysis

The times analysis

Point of view and ideology 

Composition – positioning of headlines, images, columns, combination of stories

Images/photographs - camera shot type, angle, focus

Font size, type of font (e.g. serif/sans serif)

Mise-en-scène – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/make-up

Graphics, logos 

Lexis

Copy 

Anchorage (images)

Anchorage (captions)

Narrative

Target audience and audience positioning

Proairetic codes

Hermeneutic codes

Symbolic codes

Referential codes/intertextuality

- The main image is a close up of Theresa May, it's an unflattering picture in which she looks pained and upset. This portrays an emotionally stereotypical representation of women and suggests the paper is anti-conservative. However, the ‘candid’ (almost invasive) framing of the photo also suggests she is allowing her feelings to show in private, whereas in public she is more controlled.

-The close up allows the reader to see she is clearly wearing make-up, this is a reminder of her feminity, this offers a more personal side to her, something which is reinforced by, the headline which anchors her pained expression and dark circled eyes by making the defeat of her Brexit proposals into something more personal and emotional than political and factual. This is an attempt to narrate what is a quite ‘dry’ story. It fulfils the news value of ‘personalisation’ where politicians become characters we may empathise with (even if we don’t agree with their politics). • Though the smaller headlines above the main offer a bigger picture, the last still focuses on May as an individual. • The ‘In the news’ stories at the bottom. Adding these layers represent her positively.

-The headline anchors the photo and the lexis suggests that May's emotions are justified, the alliteration emphasises that she was pushed to this state by others. Having a headline which focuses on May's emotions reinforces the vulnerable representation of women, but the paper subverts Van Zoonen's male gaze theory.

- the puff '8 best styling tips', the colour connotes that the topic is feminine and an example of soft news in comparison to the black and white used for the Brexit topic, showing that the paper takes it very seriously. This is reinforced by the serif font used and large amounts of copy, elements which also suggest the paper is aimed at middle-upper class Brits- not conforming to Van Zoonen's theory shows it is aimed at both genders. 

-There is another example of soft news in the lower corner of the paper, 'Cheltnam Festival', the lighter colour functions as a symbolic code for lighter news and care-free elements. The binary opposition set up by the colour between the two types of stories emphasises how bad brexit is- as the majority of the page is in the black and white colour scheme. This represents Britain's situation as dire- suggesting the paper is frustrated with brexit negotiations.

- The picture of the horse against the ground acts a hermeneutic code, it is anchored by the words 'cheltnam festival' but the reader still does not know what the horse is doing. It is also a proairetic code.

-The main image is placed in the centre of the page, framing May's face with copy, headlines and puffs. This acts as a symbolic code for May being in the centre of the Brexit negotiations, and establishes her as the face of politics at that time. The headline 'driven to despair' is placed directly below the masthead meaning the reader will read the words, 'the times, driven to despair.' this use of layout suggests that the times are also in despair, reinforcing the negative representation of Britains political happenings.

-The Brexit story takes up the majority of the page, indicating it's importance and relevance.

-The strapline ‘Britain’s Most Trusted Newspaper’ draws on the Times’ long history and reputation as a quality brand that will give readers a range of viewpoints on serious issues. The heraldic style logo reinforces this.

-The ‘In the news’ stories at the bottom of the page also supply some global context for the main story: financial, environmental and travel news are topics The Times’ audience is interested in. However they're extremely small below the brexit story, setting up a binary opposition in their size. The layout makes it look as though brexit is crushing other topics and downsizing them.

- The Times’ target audience, according to NRS and ABC data is predominantly ABC1, over 35 and has a liberal/right wing political stance. This well-educated and middle class audience take an interest in global affairs and can understand detailed political reporting

-The Brexit chaos edition will target this group as it takes a fairly neutral approach which will allow readers to construct their own opinion and negotiate their own response to the Outcome of the Commons vote. The close-up photo of May’s despairing face may build empathy and a sense of identification: the audience feels similar to May about the tedious Brexit process.

-The Cheltenham festival feature shows that the times' audience enjoy higher class leisure.

-The varied news bulletins show that the audience has a wide range of interests and are knowledgeable on many subjects.

-Reception theory ‐ Stuart Hall The Times has portrayed May and the vote in a way that encourages a negotiated reading. By focusing on the emotional state of May and the general despair at the progress of negotiations, it is asking readers to reflect on their own emotional response to the situation.

-Semiotics – Saussure The photograph appears to be taken through a car window (there is a shadow of a rearview mirror in the foreground and the ‘Driven To Despair’ is a pun). The connotation of this kind of shot is that they are un-posed and often private situations that the photographer has managed to capture. The framing suggests a candor to the photo. This emphasises the emotional and personalised framing for the story.

- Words such as 'driven' and 'crushed' come from a powerful, active semantic field- make subject feel more newsworthy

-The headline 'driven to despair' functions as a hermeneutic code

-don't know where May's gaze lies- h code

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inside 'woman' and the 60s

in the 60's-
mini skirts started
contraceptive pill
new music genres- rock/metal, indie
drugs
the beatles
rebellion, time of change

woman demonstrates the hegemonical patriarchal society they lived in,

ideologies are values and beliefs.
hegemony are rules in society we voluntarily follow with no prompt from the law.
anchorage is a technique that gives a photo meaning and context within a media product.
the dominant ideologies are the views upheld by society.

David Gauntlet- theories of identity

audiences are not passive and media products allow the audience to construct their own identities.
often referred to as the pick and mix theory, pick out the parts we like and ignoring the parts we don't like. audiences can pick and mix which ideologies suit them and completely ignore the elements of the products we don't agree with.

-kitchen is personified- giving it a 'present'
-lexis of 'your kitchen' suggests it's a woman's responsibility to have a kitchen.
- £1 then=£8 now
-prices suggest working class, but variety of pricing strategies suggest they're marketing to a broad audience
-articles written in shorthand- missing out information and words to simplify it- positioning audience as stupid.
- 'needs a handy man' suggests woman can't do it
-article focuses on look of it not practicality
-'get the man in your life to glue the unit together and then paint it' - assumes each woman has a man, heteronormative + monogomos
-