Analysis of Magazine Adverts

Secondary Research

Tuesday, 7 December 2010

 Introduction to Advertising
“To advertise originally meant to draw attention to something, often by word of mouth. It is now the media form we
most often encounter, usually as part of branding. It funds most media, directly or indirectly.”-

Branston G and Stafford R (2010) The Media Student’s Book- 5th Edition, Routledge, Oxon

Today I have been looking into various magazine adverts promoting music videos to see how they differ over what
genre they are and how they attract their target audience. I am also going to be looking at the codes and conventions
that they follow in order to carry out this, in terms of the denotations and connotations they use.
I am going to also be taking note of the layout, colour scheme, fonts and themes that are used in the three genres to see
if they conform to the traditional view of adverts or if they go against it.

Tuesday, 7 December 2010

 Rock Advert
The analysis points used for research were recommended by: Grahame J (2002), The Media Pack, English & Media Centre, London, Pg 136

The first thing I noticed about this

The next thing that I looked at was the font, the first thing that I realised was
album cover is the colour, it is in
how they had 2 contrasting fonts, one (the name of the band) being in very
black and white to show the They appeal to the target audience
simple writing and also the biggest font, considering they are selling on their
darkness and mystery behind it, by the band not appearing on the
music not name, which could mean they are contradicting themselves because
also it is very simple so people will front cover of the advertisement,
they want new fans and support.
be aimed to focus on the music this shows that they aren’t
rather than the band itself. The “sellouts” by selling themselves but
black and white is also used as a are staying focused to the message
link to the single. they want to send out about just
The other font is a very feminine being about the music.
font as it is cursive and neat, which
compared to their album RIOT The advert itself is meant to be
which had scribbles all over it really simple and it looks simple,
shows they have matured as a band but the connotation behind some of
and are taking a new look on things the effects is not. The first thing is
which will be a much more cleaner the dark to light gradient going
approach, this could also be because from the left to the right, this itself
after the album RIOT the band was had the meaning that being on the
going to break up so they really left side of things is evil and if you
needed to clean up their act and get are on the right side you are good,
back together once they had all this is why the main focus on the
grown up. This album is the right side of the page in the lighter
outcome. area is the two angel’s. This is very
unconventional for a Rock Band to
Another thing I noticed about the placement is
The font used is in white, this often means purity and also links have references to God and being
that the band are on the left hand side on the
to the iconic image of angels that they are using on the album innocent, but they are purposely
darkness but are slightly leaning over to the
cover, so it suggests that this is the message that they was trying doing this to make them stand out
right, showing they are trying to come clean
to send across. and be different.
and go back to the good side again.

Tuesday, 7 December 2010

 Indie Advert
The Arctic Monkeys released two adverts for their new album “Favourite
Worst Nightmare”, Below are those two adverts. They released two because it
The colours that are would appeal to a wider range of people rather than just sticking to one type.
used on the two The theme on both of them is the same and both of them send out the same Because the band
adverts are both very message so maybe they did it to gain more publicity. aren’t featured on the
visually appealing advert cover they
and calming, even have created a new
though they are all eye catching bold
various colours which logo that is also used
normally means that on the front cover of
it looks bright this the album so you will
doesn't. This suggests instantly recognise
that the band is also that it is them without
very calm and directly reading the
appealing to the writing. By using the
public and gives you cartoon like
an inside to their characters on the front
music without the of the adverts it
audience actually suggests that the band
listening to it. is young and because
it has a modern look
to it that will probably
Because the band The two “characters” who are featured on the front covers of both adverts are a be what the music
aren’t featured on the mixture between two things, the first one being a lion and a woman , this is a will be based on.
advert this suggests to play on the albums title “favourite worst nightmare”, the lion being the
the target audience nightmare and the women’s body being the favourite. This is the same
that they are selling principle for the second album of having a penguin incorporated into a police
their music not hat. The penguin can also be seen as a connection to the band as penguins live
themselves. in the arctic.

Tuesday, 7 December 2010

 Pop Advert
The last advert that I looked at was The Saturdays, this advert is a typical pop
ad and goes with all the typical conventions that you would expect to see. The
first thing that I noticed was the Logo, this logo is very recognisable as it is
used on all of their albums and merchandise, so if you are a fan you will know
its them straight away, this is perfect for the target audience.
This advert itself is very plain, it has almost no The next thing that I noticed about this album
information on it, not even a release date. This cover is the colours that they use, they have
suggests that people are more focused on the used a black and white background so that all
band itself than the actual music that they will the attention is drawn onto them and they will
produce. This is very common in Pop adverts be the main focus, so they are selling on them
because their target audience will most likely be rather than their music. They also all have a
young children- teenagers and they will not be different colour that represents them, this could
bothered on when the album is released, but be a link to their personality, for example:
more on just the idea of wanting the album to fit -Blue: is calm and cool, almost everyone likes at
in with the stereotypes and to live up to their least one shade of blue.
idols. -Green: associated with growth, freshness and
The pose on each of their faces is that they aren’t clean, on the other side it is meant to show
looking at the camera, they are all looking up to jealousy.
the right, this is a religious reference as they -Yellow: has always been seen as a cheerful
believe that being on the right side is correct and bright colour.
the left side is evil/bad, if you look at other -Pink: is an energetic colour with feminine,
rock/metal albums you will notice that they will flirtatious and sexual undertones.
either be looking directly at the camera or to the -Purple: is meant to be a representation of
left to show that they are rebellious. Also Another thing about the poses that they are doing suggests elegance and sophistication.
looking away from the camera normally that they are representing a new view of women being
suggests vulnerability but in this case they are independent and strong. They are also sitting quite close
all holding strong body language poses as well together to show that they are all friends, but far away
so it contradicts the vulnerable pose. enough to notice their individuality.

Tuesday, 7 December 2010

 Overall
Overall Findings:
After looking through these three magazine adverts I noticed a number of things that they all had in common, one of
these things was the common elements, these were generally the name of the band is shown, the release date of the
album and a colour scheme/fonts/theme that links to the main album or music video. There was on exception with
common elements, this was that “The Saturdays” album had next to no information on it, it didn’t even include a
release date, but as I have explained in my analysis of that advert it is done because the focus is on the band not the
music so they aren’t as concerned when the album is out. Another thing that I noticed is that in 2 of the adverts the
band is not actually shown, this is done because in the “Indie/Rock”scene if you go mainstream you are often seen as a
sellout, so they try hard not to conform to the traditional conventions of an album cover, this often includes getting rid
of the band from the album and the adverts, so the focus is strongly on the bands music and not the band.
One thing that I noticed about the conventions of the magazine adverts is that their is always a link from the album, to
the advert, to the music video, this is done either through the theme or the colour scheme.
Evaluation:
Once I finished looking at my overall findings I looked at the strengths and weaknesses of them. The things that stood
out for me and worked really well was not actually using the band on the front of the ad, this is because it makes the
audience look twice at the ad to establish who the band is. I also found that having a small amount of vital information
such as the release date, album name and band name was a lot more attractive than having lots of information or no
information. Another weakness that I found was making sure the colour is correct, with the Saturdays advert it was in
black and white and had selective colour, this looked very unattractive as it stood out too much and the paramore
cover looked a little too plain to be noticed in black and white.

Tuesday, 7 December 2010