Textual Analysis 1 - Magazine Advert

Language:

The above text, taken from Q magazine, is pretty simplistic, yet a great marketing idea. As you can see to the right, the advert is identical to the album cover in which it is marketing, and therefore features intertextual references, even going as far as featuring the same border found on the album cover. This use of media language is effective because it bombards the audience with images of the album front cover, allowing the image to stick in the audience's minds. Furthermore, people who are already familiar with the artist and album would have most likely seen this advert (print) before; most likely from the album front cover. This allows these people to swiftly recognise the advert as being Kings of Leon. The use of lighting and editing in the main picture, with the extensive use of a orange/yellow/red tint creates a warm feeling, with the colours having connotations of heat and warmth due to the sun. Furthermore, the iconography of the palm tree, seen in the mise en scene of the above advert with the palm leaves, emphasises the warm beach-setting. This may all seem irrelevant to the album, but the themes usually come from the title of the albums, and in this case, the album is called 'Come Around Sundown'. This gives meaning to the usage of sun iconography but also, so does the content of the album. Unlike its predecessor, 'Only By The Night', this album features a happier, more upbeat music style, which is shown with the bright, vibrancy of the advert. The fact that it is a sunset and the title refers to 'Sundown', it can also be revealed that the music featured on the album will be more mellow, also; reflecting the genre of Southern Rock. This genre can be seen in the album, especially in the song 'Going Back Down South', and the band also hail from Southern USA. These colours are iconic of the Souther US, as it is much warmer there. Unconventionally, the advert doesn't feature the band in any form, which highlights their importance in the music scene, with their images not necessary to market their product (they are evidently very popular, and are expecting the mere image of their album to be enough to draw the audience in to consuming the product). The layout of the text is strange. The audience's eyes are naturally drawn to the centre of the page, which is why most print adverts feature their main picture there, often of the artist, or the artists/album name. However, the album name and artist name are neatly placed on the top and bottom respectively; following the graphology of the album cover. Naturally, the band name is situated in a larger and bolder font than any other text on the magazine advert, simply because they are well-known by their name.

Institution:

It seems conventional that the institutions appear on the magazine advert, as I have been seeing it a lot as of late. In the bottom right of the magazine advert, the logo of the record label, which the band are signed to, Columbia Records, can be seen. This is there to draw attention to the band's label, advertising them as being the owner of the product. In addition to this, on the bottom left of the magazine advertisement, we can see that there is the logo for Play.com. This gives the audience/spectator the option to buy the product on the popular website, as some may not know where to get the album from. Furthermore, I suspect that the advertising campaign may have been partially funded by Play.com as they are being given free publicity, with their logo printed on thousands of copies of the magazine advert, nationwide. More institution references can be seen, with the addition of the band's website. This will link the audience, if they decide to visit the site, to a place were they can sign up for email alerts, browse pictures, music and videos by the band; allowing them to consume their earlier products and also buy them through the band's own web store. Conventionally, the magazine's logo, in which the advertisement is situated in, doesn't appear as it is unnecessary.

Ideology:

Q magazine is a very popular; highly respected music magazine. The fact that a Kings of Leon album advert has been placed in the magazine highlights their importance in the modern music scene is seen by the ideology created, because, simply, if the band are in Q magazine, they must be 'cool' and worth the listen. This is further highlighted by the fact that the band have a large article written about their new album in the same issue.

Audience:

The audience of the above text is the same as the audience for Q magazine, because the institutions advertise in areas which will likely be viewed by the same target audience. 72% of the audience are in the ABC1 profile, the median age is 29 and 68% are male, leaving the rest (32%) female. Q magazine also has a readership of 547,000 people, meaning the advert is going to be seen by a lot of people. The magazine aims to cater for an older generation of CD-buyers, featuring older music such as re-issues, and serious, critically acclaimed music, rather than pop-punk, for example. This means that the audience will be a mature one, often serious about music and expect the best.

Representation:

This directly leads on from the Audience section, as the audience of Q magazine are serious about music, and like good quality music rather than pop music that is made to appeal to the masses. This represents Kings of Leon as a serious band with great songs and appeal to a maturer audience. Furthermore, as previously skimmed upon, the fact that they don't feature on their advert, to promote their album, represents them as being important and well-known, as they don't need their image to sell their product, as people already know who they are. The colour scheme also represents the genre of the music seen on the album, giving the audience a slight taste as to what to expect from the album, with the colours being a representation of the music genre (southern rock) as well as the mood of the songs (chilled out and upbeat) amongst other things.