The Big Issue

Wednesday 30th January 2019

L/O: To research institutions and ideologies behind case study product

Loop Task - What do you know about the big issue:

It's a Magazine

Its used to help the homeless generate income

Sold over 200,000,000 copies since it started

Started in 1991

Founded by John Bird

It is a non-profit organisation

Vendors of The Big Issue are homeless or severely deprived

"A hand up not a hand out"

There is now an online shop that small businesses can use to sell the big issue to help start up

They invest and support other social enterprise projects

Written by professional journalists

Has had a lot of controversy for being 'overly commercial'

The covers suggest that the target audience is a primarily younger (20-40) group of people as the news on the front cover would be more likely to attract this group of people.

Ideologies:

Ideology - An ideology is a collection of normative beliefs and values that an individual or group holds for other than purely epistemic reasons. The term is especially used to describe a system of ideas and ideals which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy.

• In a lot of mainstream newspapers, you can clearly see Gramsci's model of the social - political landscape of culture of society being HEGEMONIC.

What is the ideology and values of the publication, how is this shown, and what does it suggest about the target audience?

The Big Issue Foundation is a financially independent charity. They believe in a ‘hand up and not a hand out’ and recognise that earning an income is a key step in a person’s journey towards stability and a better life. Achieving something for yourself is 100% more empowering than having it done for you. The Big Issue offers the incentive of earning an income; it means that we engage with a number of individuals who are not seen by other services or projects. They work exclusively with Big Issue vendors, people who are excluded from mainstream society, financially impoverished and disadvantaged in multiple ways. They seek to address the fundamental issues attached to social and financial exclusion through the provision of concrete support to change lives for good.

They operate an open door policy and work with individuals who have made the first step to try and work themselves out of the poverty of their situation. Their charity work focuses on delivering brighter futures, boosting self esteem and helping vendors to reclaim their citizenship. 

Monday 4th February 2019

L/O: To identify the primary target audience for The Big Issue

Loop Task:
What ideologies are represented in this cover and how have they been represented?

King Arthur was a movie released in 2017 which is also around the time that most of the Brexit drama was in full swing. The title 'Strong and Stable' could be referring to brevet itself and the writers views on it. King Arthur could also be representing traditional britishness which, by saying 'King Arthur is best for Britain in 2017' could be linking to them believing that staying true to the British heritage is the best move for Britain at the time.

However it could be celebrating the British Film industry itself, but knowing the cultural references it is more likely that they are indirect political references.

72% of the Big Issue readers are ABC1
43% of readers are AB

The Big Issue audience is young at heart, educated and loyal. Slightly more women than men read The Big Issue, while 61% of our readers are 18-39.

Wednesday 6th February 2019

The Big Issue Infographic:

Monday 25th February 2019

L/O: To analyse The Big Issue covers effectively

Loop Task - What ideologies are represented in this cover and how have they been represented? What does it tell us about the target audience?

The cover has a very positive outlook, shown by the text on the sides like 'Taking a stand for legal aid' and also some of the language used like 'fantastic', 'survivor' and 'righteous'. The colour scheme of the cover is also very bright and cheerful which further pushes the positivity from the cover. 

They use puns and play on words: 'Orchestral manoeuvres in the car park' and 'Taking the stand for legal aid'. This shows that even though they are talking about serious issues they still try to make it fun and light-hearted and try not to take themselves too seriously.

The target audience would have the same values and beliefs as the ones represented on the cover. They are likely to have a broad range of interests as there is a range of different topics on the cover. These things shown on the cover will most likely be important to the target audience.



Mode of Address - How the text speaks to the audience/how the text influences them.

Direct: The model looks directly at the audience, or the writing speaks to 'you'.
Indirect: The model looks away, or the writing refers to 'people' or 'the public'.


Analyse this Big Issue print.
Explain the mode of address and the appeal to the target audience.

Consider:

• Layout
• Content
• Tone
• Representations
• Ideology
• Intertextuality 
• Social, cultural and political context.

Using the text to cover the models eyes makes the cover have a more indirect address, which could appeal to the target audience as it feels less targeted to just people who have suffered or been affected by the wars .

The monochrome colour scheme of the cover is disrupted by the green army helmet on the models head, drawing attention to it and the text inside 'Still at war'. 

The main tagline on the cover is 'Still at war', referring to the fact that even when vets come back from the literal wars, there is still a metaphoric war going on inside their heads, shown by the follow up text 'The battle for peace of mind back home' and 'Rebuilding lives, fighting for futures'. The model is seen to be wearing normal, everyday clothes and the helmet is very clearly added in after the image was taken. This could be their way of showing that war vets look like everyday people but in their heads, they still feel like they are at war and are struggling to go back to normal life which could be symbolised by the helmet being added in after the image taken (not everyone will realise the helmet is there, just like not everyone will realise what these people are going through). Having the words 'still at war' on the models head could be a reference to the fact that it is very likely that the war is going on inside the vets heads and will not be visible.

The play on words 'inside on the frontline keeping veterans off the streets' is a very clear reference to the previously stated fact that even when vets are back home from the actual war, they are still struggling with their own battles. It could be saying that now that these vets have fought the war for our country, we need to return the favour and fight for them and help to keep them from being homeless. This is emphasising the fact that The big Issue celebrates very left wing views and is very much, as they say, 'for the people'.

The main theme of the cover is clearly war and raising awareness for vets but it also includes other, more light-hearted topics that would still interest their target audience, for example 'Roger Daltrey - What Id say to Keith Moon'. Two very well known musicians within the target audience for The Big Issue.

Wednesday 27th February 2019

L/O: DIRT and Exam Practise 

Loop Task - Bullet Point Analysis:

• Cover is played out like a scrapbook almost
• Intertextual reference - The Sex Pistols album cover
• The band was known for their sense of rebellion and they were a big part of the punk music.
• The punk theme is indicated by the huge safety pin
• Known for standing up for they apolitical views as well as their music
• Suggesting that Britain no longer questions everything where as back in the day everyone questioned everything and always caused lots of issue
• Banksy is a known political activist as well as an artist - almost all of his artwork contains a political message
• Cover made of newspaper cut outs suggesting our national identity comes from the media
• Writers more likely to be fans of The Sex Pistols and the punk movement or are/were punks themselves
• Celebrating rebellion 'What happened to the spirit of rebellion' - 'spirit' normally has very positive connotations

Analyse why The Big Issue magazine has used an intertextual approach to the referendum on its front cover.

This issue was released on June 13 2016, just before the referendum; ten days before Britain announced they were leaving the EU. They have put the faces of the most prominent people involved at the time of release on the bodies of the ABBA members. The politicians seen on the cover are: David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Nigel Farrage and Nicola Sturgeons.

The Big Issue has used intertextual references to create a comedic value for the target audience but is also used to portray they own views on brexit. 

The use of the bright colours and outfits on the cover stand out and appeal to the audience that will be most likely to see it in a probably busy city. By choosing the famous sweetish group ABBA as the band to put the politicians faces over could be seen as The Big Issue saying that Sweeden are mocking the Uk on its current Brexit situation.

The use of the lyrics placed by the different politicians on the cover are also intertextual and are clear play on words referencing the individuals stances on Brexit. For example, 'Knowing me, knowing EU' is a lyric from ABBAs song 'Knowing me, knowing you' and is a reference to Camerons beliefs that we should stay in the EU.  This is also the case for Nicola Sturgeons lyrics 'Breaking up is never easy. I know' which are also from the song 'Knowing me, knowing you' and also show her beliefs that we should remain in the EU. The use of these intertextual references are useful to the audience as it helps show that Cameron and Sturgeons share the same beliefs on Brexit. However, this is the opposite of Johnson and Farrage's lyrics as they are both very much for Brexit and strongly believe we should leave the EU. Farrage's lyric 'Take a chan-chance...' is taken from ABBAs song 'Take a chance on me' and is showing the reader that his belief is that we should all take a chance on him and his stance on Brexit. As well as this, the use of that image of Farrage makes his beliefs less credible, which could be further showing The Big Issues ideologies on the Brexit situation.