Rolling Stones Magazine Analysis Half Term Homework

Masthead – bright red with white outline and black shadow to make it stand out and contrast with the blue background to capture the reader’s attention. As it is the only thing in red, it stands out from everything else on the page. Is the traditional and iconic ‘Rolling Stone’ font and colour scheme and is the same as every other issue to make it memorable and recognisable. The fact that Miley Cyrus is positioned in front of the masthead suggests that the magazine is well-known enough that reader’s would not need to work out the name of the magazine, and perhaps her picture is more important than the title. Cover Lines – the cover lines are laid out vertically with the main cover line having the biggest sized writing then the size decreases suggesting the level of importance gets smaller. The main cover line is ‘Good Golly Miss Miley’! Which links to the main image to show that there is more to read about her inside, perhaps about her transformation. Another Cover Line used is ‘The War on Gay Teens’ which might cause reader’s to not be happy with the magazine and might not even purchase it if there are any homophobic readers. The cover lines which are printed in larger fonts seem to be the most intriguing and interesting for the audience. Main Image – Miley Cyrus gazing directly at camera. Image is linked to the main cover line as it is a side of Miley we’ve never seen before as she has never been on the front cover of a magazine not wearing anything. It is an image of Miley doing her infamous pose of sticking her tongue out and gazing directly at the camera, which suggests she wants to make it recognisable. She has black makeup smeared under her eyes and is wearing gold jewellery to come across to the readers as ‘bad’. The jewellery could also promote her wealth to suggest she is showing her success as an artist. She is covering herself with her arms as it is an inappropriate and risky photo to have on the front cover of a well-known magazine so it is inappropriate for younger people, although it will attract the male audience. The fact that her career started out on a Disney show aimed at younger people makes her transformation more shocking but is displayed well within one image. She is positioned in the centre of the magazine cover to show she is the main focus for the reader. Buzzword – ‘hot list’ is used to intrigue audience to make them want to find out more.

Audience Responses Hall’s Theory suggests that different types of audiences will respond to this Miley Cyrus cover of the Rolling Stone magazine in different ways. For example, males would respond differently to females as they would perhaps be attracted to the cover as Miley has been photographed in a ‘revealing’ way as she is not wearing any clothing. On the other hand, females are more likely to purchase this issue as they might aspire to be like her or are interested in her new look. The cultural experience and upbringing of the audience would effect how they would respond to this cover as different audiences may have different opinions on whether they agree with the way she has been represented by different readings. Preferred reading: Miley is trying to inspire people by showing her new transformation and is not afraid of what people might think. Negotiated Reading: it is good that she is proud of her transformation but looks too revealing to show on a front cover. Oppositional Reading: the front cover is offensive and too inappropriate to have on a front cover of a magazine, especially for younger audiences.

Target Audience The target audience for the Rolling Stones magazine I think is a mix between mass and niche audiences depending on the main feature article of the issue. The target audience for this edition of the Rolling Stones magazine would be aimed towards a mas audience who are 15-24 years old, maybe mostly female as the main feature is Miley Cyrus so it would attract more mainstream readers as the magazine content focuses on more popular culture like actors, television and pop music. Since the target audience for this magazine is mostly teens, the teen psychographic profiles show that the audience, in my opinion would be fun-seekers, followers, or armchair rebels as all three groups would be able to associate themselves with Miley Cyrus. The psychographic profiles tell me that the main audiences in my opinion would be aspirers; as they are usually young, materialistic and fashionable people much like Miley Cyrus, and explorers as they seek individualism and experience, which Miley Cyrus may come across as, specifically in this front cover. Judging by the socio-economic scale, the social grade of the audience would range from D and C because it is aimed at younger audiences who are probably still in education or have a part-time job, therefore they would not usually be in a higher class. Rolling Stone have said that their target audience is the “middle of the road rock fans of all ages”. This suggests that they want their target audience to have great music knowledge, especially in rock music; which is what the magazine mostly focuses on.