The Big Issue : Assessment Task

On July 18^th, 2016, The Big Issue Ltd published its 1214^th magazine issue. This issue depicted a clear intertextual reference to the recent debut movie: ‘Ghost Busters’. The classic 1984 blockbuster was renewed and released just 3 days before this specific Big Issue cover was published, starring an ‘all-female’ cast. By clearly carrying out a Ghost Busters theme through this magazines’ front cover, it poses as advertisement for the movie, expanding its demographic to those that read The Big Issue. The movie starred Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones, which can be seen on multiple advertisement posters. However, The Big Issue has taken one of these posters involving the 4 actresses and continued to clearly advertise the movie but instead replaced the 4 actresses faces with 4 other significant women who were at the top of their game during the release of this issue. These 4 women are (from left to right) Hilary Clinton, Teresa May, Taylor Swift and Serena Williams. There’s a clear relation to the Ghostbusters movie due to the fact the mise en scene is kept the same as the characters are wearing the easily-recognisable costumes whilst holding laser guns. There’s a humorous theme to this Front Cover, the visual narrative has been heavily photo shopped, specifically within the four characters, their heads appear to be much larger in comparison to real life. The significance of their heads being larger may be to represent their power during the time of the issues release.

Hilary Clinton was significant at the time for worldwide readers, specifically within the US because she was competing against Donald Trump to win the US electoral campaign. Hilary Clinton is a democratic campaigner, she focused her platform on several issues, including expanding racial, LGBT, and women's rights, raising wages and ensuring equal pay for women, and improving healthcare. The fact that she is a left-wing activist, poses interest to the target audience of The Big Issue, this is because she will support similar campaigns to the labour party in Britain.

The Associated Press had declared Clinton the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party after she reached the required number of delegates, on June 6^th, 2016. At this time, the Americans had their bets on Clinton winning the electoral campaign. However, just after this announcement Clinton had been making headlines in relation to a FBI investigation which had been instigated after Donald Trump and his supporters made allegations that, in March 2015, Clinton's practice of using her own private email address and server during her time as Secretary of State, concerns were raised about security and preservation of emails, and the possibility that laws may have been violated. Prior to the release of this magazine issue, the FBI investigation was concluded on July 5^th, 2016, with a recommendation of no charges. After this notification that Hilary did not commence any crimes, it was believed that she was in the running’s again to becoming the President of the United States.

Teresa May was important to UK readers at the time of this magazines release, because David Cameron had stepped down as Prime Minister after the results of the Brexit referendum. Teresa May was newly elected to step in for the Conservatives party. It was considered within Britain a ‘breath of fresh air’ after the hassle Brexit and the pound coins worth plummeting. Teresa May also contributed to the fact that another female had not been in British power since Margaret Thatcher in 1975, so at this time, it seemed revolutionary for women as historically they had a severe lack of power and rights.

Taylor Swift was relevant at the time within the music industry because controversy has arisen over Kanye West’s music video for his recent song ‘Famous’. The video depicted 11 wax models of famous individuals laying in a large bed, naked. The video was inspired by Vincent Desiderio’s painting ‘Sleep’. One of the celebrities featured in the video is Taylor Swift, she was depicted naked, lying to the left of Kanye West himself. Taylor Swift’s main issue with her inclusion in the video was one lyric that stated “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that bitch famous (Goddamn) I made that bitch famous”. Taylor Swift argued that she had not agreed with Kanye West using this line and therefore believed it was a violation of her right. The 8-year feud between Taylor Swift, Kayne West and Kim Kardashian continued when Swift fought for her rights.

Serena Williams was significant at the time of this magazines release because on July 9^th, 2016 Williams defeated Angelique Kerber in the finals at Wimbledon to claim her 22nd major singles title and tie the Open Era record for Grand Slam singles titles with Steffi Graf. She is the only tennis player in history (man or woman) to have won singles titles at least six times in three of the four Grand Slam tournaments. This, again, represents how women are rising in power contradicting against their ancestors’ lack of power in the past.

Following again from the humorous theme mentioned earlier within the editing of the main cover image, at the top right of the cover, beside the logo and issue number, the green ghost villain from the Ghostbusters movie is depicted as Donald trump. The Big Issue’s audience would appreciate this because Trump is a Republican campaigner, meaning he is right wing, thus, he is not support by The Big Issue and its reputable target audience so to be depicted as someone unlikeable or villainous, makes sense.

The main (and only) copy line consisted of the typography being surrounded by a white glow, making it easier to see. The white glow around the main cover line could be interpreted to link to the foggy/smoke theme based around the background of the visual narrative. The text states “Who you gonna call’ this creates anchorage to the cover image as it then confirms and identifies the ghost busters theme. “Who you gonna call?” Is a clear reference to main lyric of the ghost busters theme song, which would be easily recognisable from the old movies. However, instead of ending the lyric typically with saying 'ghostbusters', in its place ends with 'the new female front line'. Again, relating to the significant power that the 4 women depicted had at the time of the release of the issue. In the background of the image, landmarks from London can be seen such as the Westminster Abbey and the White House. These are significant because they relate to the politicians specifically. Linking back to the ghostbusters theme, these buildings pose significance because they essentially set the scene for the “movie” of the ‘New female frontline’.

Key Terminology

Advertising revenue- Money received from companies who have paid The Big Issue to place an advertisement for their business in one of the published magazines. 

Articles- A piece of writing that covers a specific issue or story within a Magazine or Newspaper. 

Audience Appeal- The way the magazine and articles within it are structured to attract the targeted demographic.  

Cost- Outflows from the business to produce the magazine or a payment that is incurred externally. 

Cultural and political awareness- Articles are written based on events that haven’t happened recently or are currently occurring. 

Culture- Themes of Art, Television, news, theatre, film, and music which are typically focused on within articles in The Big Issue.

David v. Goliath narratives- A story where a ‘down trodden group’ will fight corporate giants. 

Editor-in-chief- The individual who oversees the production of the magazines content. 

Editorial content- The articles and other structural features such as visual narrative which are included in the magazine.

Editorial opinion- The journalist who is writing the articles will often weigh in their own opinion on the theme or story.

Emotional fulfilment- The satisfaction of helping someone who is in need. This is what the customers of The Big Issue get from purchasing one of its copies. 

Front cover- The front page of the magazine, typically and briefly highlights the key elements within the magazine to attract its target audience.

Guest columnists- Someone who has written an article which is to fit in a column of the magazine. This person does not typically write for The Big Issue, e.g. a celebrity or politician. 

Hybrid genre- The Big Issue contains articles relevant to news, culture, editorial opinion and interviews.

Ideological beliefs- A set of social or political beliefs that are from a specific culture.

Ideology- Morals and ideals which will be key in forming economic and political beliefs, this must be similar to the reader’s ideas. 

Independent publication- The Big Issue is not owned by any other company, it produced and sells its own magazine.

Institutional factors- Elements that are always controlled and contemporary within all its published magazines.  E.g. its target audience and structure. 

Intertextuality- Elements used within the Magazine that relate to an external piece of media, e.g. a song lyric or movie quote. 

Interviews- A Q and A narrative between a guest and member of The Big Issue.

John Bird and Gordon Riddick- The founders of The Big Issue. 

Key appeals- Components, such as article plots, guests and other occurrences within the world which are specifically chosen to interest The Big Issue’s target audience.

Language code- The form of literature used, in The Big Issue’s case, a formal and complex structure is used, meaning only those who are well educated will have a thorough understanding of the texts.

Low production values- The cost to produce The Big Issue Magazine is considered ‘cheap’ in order to ensure that the vendors can benefit from the surplus made. 

Magazine sales- How many Magazines have been sold, and how much revenue was created from them. 

Modes of address- The language code used within the articles. The Big Issue uses a formal, complex sentence structure to make it appear that the article is talking to you as a reader. 

News- Recent events or newly-surfaced information that’s relevant to society.

Not-for-profit organisation- The business is not interested in making a profit, any surplus made is reinvested in to the business to benefit its charitable cause.

Passing trade- The Big Issue is not sold within shops or Newsagents, copies are sold to the public who are passing a vendor in the street.

Primary target audience- The Big Issues target audience is ABC1 socially aware professionals aged between 25-44. This is the demographic that The Big Issue aims its magazine at.

Public service- Offering a service that benefits the community. The Big Issues public service is to help eradicate homelessness.

Published- After a magazine has been completed and can now be purchased/viewed by the public.

Rogue traders- People who sell The Big Issue when they aren’t a registered vendor to the business. 

Socially aware- The Big Issue is aware of problems or events occurring within societies to support the fact the fact they are a left-wing magazine publican. 

Start-up capital- Money raised prior to the opening of the business to get it started. 

Target audience- The Big Issues target audience is ABC1 socially aware professionals aged between 25-44. This is the demographic that The Big Issue typically aims its magazines at.

The Big Issue- The name of the magazine. 

The Big Issue Ltd- The main organisation that owns the magazine and charity. Its legal structure is private limited, meaning it has limited liability and shares of the business can only be sold to friends and family of the owners. 

The Big Issue Foundation- The charitable institution that is the arm of The Big Issue magazine. 

Vendors- The people that are responsible for making sales for 

Weekly circulation- The Big Issue has an average Weekly circulation of around 82,000. This is the amount of magazines sold to the public.

---

The Big Issue

• Founded in 2005, the big issue is an award-winning magazine that sprouted from a multi-million social investment, that offers employment opportunities to people in poverty.
• The big issue has been around for just over 25 years. 
• Its main aim is to dismantle poverty. 
• Vendors buy The Big Issue magazine for £1.25 and sell it for £2.50, meaning each seller is a micro-entrepreneur who is working, not begging. 
• Since 1991, the magazine has helped over 92,000 vendors earn £115 million. 
• There are currently around 1500 vendors, and last year alone we helped them to earn a total of £5.5 million. 
• Currently the magazine is read by an estimated 379,195 people across the UK and circulates 82,294 copies every week.
• Offers 120 similar magazines in 35 countries worldwide.

The Big Issue Invest: 

• The Big Issue Invest offers social enterprises, charities and profit-with- purpose businesses, loans and investment from £20,000 to £3 million. Since 2005, we have invested in approximately 300 social enterprises and charities, all of which have positively influenced the lives of an estimated 1 million people across the UK.
• Big Issue Invest is also helping to pave the way for 2.7 million social housing tenants to potentially improve their credit files, by partnering with Experian on The Rental Exchange.

The Big Issue Foundation: 

• Founded in 1995, The Big Issue Foundation is an independently funded registered charity, which works exclusively with the Big Issue vendors, connecting them to the vital support they need to enable them to rebuild their lives and determine their own pathways to a better future.
• The charity focuses on boosting self-esteem and helping vendors to reclaim their citizenship in order to deliver brighter futures. The Big Issue Foundation raises money for its work through individual giving, grant-making trusts, corporate sponsorship, and vendor day experiences – as well as many flagship fundraising events such as The Big London Night Walk, The Big Sleep Out and the London to Paris Cycle Challenge.
• Last year we recorded the achievements of over 2,000 vendors, focusing on programmes of work that seek to establish financial stability and inclusion. The financial journey of each vendor creates the building blocks of success in terms of further socially orientated objectives, the catalyst for personal change and an escape from the poverty of each person’s situation.

Not-For-Profit advertisments

Shelter Print Advertisement

Colour: 

• There is a repetitive and predominant use of red within this advertisement. This is mainly because it is the brand colour, clear depicted within the Shelter logo at the bottom right corner of each section of this advertisement. As well as this,  red known to be the most eye-catching colour, and it also has connotations of anger, blood and love. It is used as the font colour to help catch the audiences attention. 

Endorsement:

• None of the 3 people used within this advert have a celebrity status. This could then lead on to an inference that the copy upon their faces may lead to actual circumstances they have experienced. They are all middle-aged adults, and there is a lack of positive expression upon their faces. This may effect the viewer, and encourage them to feel remorse, thus, donating to the charity. 

Camera shot/Visual narrative: 

• The 3 portraits are taken as a close up, where the person has a direct gaze at the audience. Their faces have been lit only from the front, to create a dramatic exposure to the centre of the face. A vignette has clearly been added to contrast the persons face and push our view  away from the outside of the text. 

Copy: 

• The main copy, which can be seen layered in a red, bold text upon the 3 people's faces is supposedly something they have said. This relates back to the idea that these may not be models, the maybe people who have been in unfortunate circumstances and have benefitted from Shelter's organisation. 
• Beneath the 3 people are a much smaller copy. The font is white this time, it still stands out, but it will require the audience to engage with the advertisement for a longer period of time to read it. This copy changes between the 3 individuals and can be interpreted clearly to relate back to the large, red copy which is written upon the person's faces. 
• The copy between the 3 sections is repeated or of a very similar structure, this helps encourage the viewer to offer their support, because no matter which area of the advertisement they are looking at, they will always be lead to where the information is on how to donate. 

Shelter : Initial Research

Shelter: Initial Research

‘Shelter’ is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to help millions of people every year who are struggling with bad housing or homelessness through. Based in the city of London, London, UK, the Shelter charity serves in both England and Scotland. With an approximation of an annual revenue being £60,902,000. They offer support to those who are in unfortunate conditions via advice, support and legal services. They propose multiple campaigns in a bid to eternally eradicate homelessness within the UK. The launch of Shelter hugely benefited from the coincidental screening, in November 1966, of the BBC television play "Cathy Come Home" ten days before Shelter's launch. ‘Cathy Come Home’ was written by Jeremy Sandford and directed by Ken Loach; it highlighted the wide-scale issue of the number of homeless in Britain. The film led to a public outcry and calls for action after its broadcast. Shelter was then shortly set up by the Rev Bruce Kenrick after forming the Notting Hill Housing Trust in 1963. The Shelter charity was founded on 1st December 1966, sprouting out of the work on behalf of homeless people which was then being carried on in Notting Hill in London. It gives advice, information and advocacy to people in need, and tackles the root causes of bad housing by lobbying government and local authorities for new laws and policies to improve the lives of homeless and badly housed people. It works in partnership with Shelter Cymru in Wales and the Housing Rights Service in Northern Ireland. There are multiple ways in which Shelter benefits the homeless, an example being their Face-to-face services, whereby they give advice and support services across the UK give people one-to-one, personalised help with whatever their housing issue may be. They also offer a free emergency helpline, which is open 365 days a year and is often the first port of call for people facing a housing crisis.

Christmas Advertisement Campaign:

Shelter launched a new advertising campaign to highlight the fact that anyone can lose their home this Christmas. The charity’s new ‘Disappearing Houses’ print ad was presented upon 2500 tube card panel adverts on London Underground trains and in national newspapers and magazines over a period of two weeks.

Created by advertising agency Leo Burnett who gave their time pro bono and featuring photography by Blinkk, the ad campaign depicts an ordinary family completely exposed after their home has literally disappeared. The advertisement aims to show how easy it is for any one of us to lose our home and how suddenly it can happen.  Gary Simmons, Board Account Director at Leo Burnett, said: “Hopefully this campaign will help more people to realise the severity of the housing problem in the UK and help those facing the nightmare of losing their home.”

The poster was created with the hopes that it will raise awareness of the work Shelter does and then also encourage people to support as they get set to help increasing numbers of people needing their vital advice services this Christmas. The advertising campaign launched a week after the Government announced massive cuts to housing in the Comprehensive Spending Review, where at an all ready difficult time of the year, more and more people will be at risk of losing their home. Shelter is highlighting it’s vital role in helping people when things start to spiral out of control.

Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter, replied to the print advertisement with: “Every two minutes someone in this country faces the nightmare of losing their home. But as the Government prepares to slash housing investment and support, there is no question this will increase in the coming months. Our new advertising campaign launches at a time when millions of people are set to face real hardship and tough times ahead. Not only are we hoping to reach out to those who need our help but also increase support so that we can help as many future victims of the housing crisis as we can.”

Old Spice : Initial Research

Old Spice: Initial Research 

‘Old Spice’ was founded in 1934 by an American man named William Lightfoot Schultz. Schultz was supposedly inspired by his mother's ‘potpourri’, which is a name given to a mixture of dried petals and spices placed in a bowl to perfume a room- similarly to our modern-day ‘air fresheners’. This is what lead on to the invention of the ‘Old Spice’ cosmetic and fragrance line, starting out with soap products alongside his son. When Old Spice was introduced, William Lightfoot Schultz was interested in maintaining a colonial framework for those products and chose a 17^th and 18^th century nautical theme for Old Spice. Thus, he chose to represent this through sailing ships. Through continuous use and advertising, the various ships have become a valuable trademark identifying the Old Spice product for men. The original ships used on the packaging were the Grand Turk and the Friendship (both generic and notable). Other similar ships used on Old Spice packaging include the Wesley, Salem, Birmingham and Hamilton. The products were manufactured by an American company titled ‘Shulton’ which was also owned by Schultz, where its first product was formed called ‘Early American Old Spice for women’ in 1937, which then closely followed by ‘Old Spice for men’ in 1938. The original Early American Old Spice range consisted of soap, toilet water, perfume, bath salts, dusting powder and a vanity box (known as a combination package). Although this range only went on sale for a few months in 1937, sales grossed $77,000 in that year with most high-end shops selling out in only short periods of time. This made it clear to Schultz that his ‘Old Spice’ label was a success. In 1938, Shulton added men’s toiletries: shaving mug, after-shave lotion, cologne, talcum, and soap, to the Old Spice line, but using a different scent from the original. Total sales for Old Spice in 1938 (men’s and women’s) was $770,000 out of total company sales of $982,000. In 1939, this rose to $3,100,00. The ‘Old Spice for men’ line would go on to become Shulton’s largest selling line, this is what lead on to men becoming ‘Old Spice’s’ main target demographic. With numerous additions and complete new ranges such as Man Power (1962), Old Spice Lime (1965) and Old Spice Burley (1967) Old Spice had grew into a multi-million business. By 1970, Shulton's annual sales were $130 million. New products needed to be developed on a much larger scale, using much larger financial capital. Due to this, Shulton was then to be sold to ‘American Cyanamid’ to maintain its momentum. However, 20 years later ‘Procter & Gamble’ purchased the ‘Old Spice’ products from the Shulton Company in June 1990. The logo was changed from the 17^th and 18^th century trademarked naval ships to a yacht. In 2001 Procter and Gamble licensed development and production of Old Spice in USA, Canada, and Puerto Rico to Universal Razor Industries. This lead to the packaging being changed yet again in 2008. There was no formula change during the time of business changed however the original Old Spice scent was repackaged as "Classic Scent". Since purchasing the Old Spice line, they have continued to provide many of the original Old Spice products as well as introducing several new products that have enhanced the Old Spice line.

Old Spice’s most successful advertising Campaign: “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like”

·       On February the 7th, 2010, Old Spice released one of the most popular viral advertising campaigns in the United States. It involved a series of short videos, which all starred Isaiah Mustafa- an American actor and former NFL practice squad wide receiver. In each of the short clips, Mustafa can be seen wrapped in a towel, whilst the rest of his body is bare.

·       The advertisement is aimed at both women and men, with the intention to promise women that he is "The man your man could smell like”- as titled. It was discovered that women were responsible for more than 50% of body wash purchases, involving purchases for their partners. By using a ‘hunky’ man, the aim was to grab women’s attention and either lead them to purchase Old Spice for their partner, or lead their partner to buy the product in a bid to be like Isaiah Mustafa.

·       It was proposed by an American Advertising agency called Wieden and Kennedy. The videos themselves were directed by Tom Kuntz. The campaign won multiple awards involving: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Commercial, Clio Award for Television/Cinema/Digital.

·       Wieden & Kennedy quickly followed up with an interactive digital campaign capitalising on the popularity of the "Old Spice Guy" in which he responded to personal video messages from his fans. Its success went beyond with 5.9 million YouTube views on the first day alone. More people viewed the Isaiah Mustafa "response" video on the first day than watched President Obama’s 2008 election-night acceptance speech.

·       As a result of the campaign, by the end of 2010, Old Spice had become the leading body wash brand for US men with sales up 125%. Within a week of the advert’s launch, Twitter followers of Old Spice increased by 2,700% and the number of Facebook fans rose by nine times.