Mae's A Level Media Blog

Explain how representations in adverts are constructed to promote the product. Choose two of the adverts that you have studied. The product in the Old Spice advert is promoted in an unusual way as they have put different/ random items together for example Isiah Mustafa on a white stallion and holding a bottle of Old Spice shampoo on some diamonds in a beach. All these things don't really relate to the product they are promoting, the only thing that does relate to the product is the speech. Even though it is unusual, it is unique so it makes it stand out from other products and adverts which could make it more popular. The setting of the product being a beach, promotes the product as being luxury as the beach looks like paradise. This setting also links to the original advert for Old Spice as that was at sea. This would attract more of a wider audience as the advert is more modern than the original so appeals to more people. The advert suggests that men are 'unmanly' ...

1. Explain the political significance of the concept of 'press freedom' and its relationship to representative democracy. Why do you think freedom of the press is important? How much influence do you think the government should have about the things reported in the UK press? Press freedom is significant as it presents media institutions with the ability to produce stories in any political alignment that they desire and also publish any stories they feel are in the public interest. This is important as it means the public can receive news stories that they need to hear about even if they damage other people's reputations. It allows all news to be given to the public so that we have all the information we might need about politics and economics as well as celebrity stories in the tabloid newspapers. Without press freedom we would live in a country with state censorship where the government controlled the news we received. This means that they could only publish stories in th...

How active are the social media feeds of The Daily Mail and The Guardian and what might this tell us about their readers and how involved they are with news products? Which articles are included and which generate the most social media activity and audience participation?  1. Look at the Twitter feed for both The Guardian and The Daily Mail. Make a note of their follower numbers. Which is more popular and why do you think that might be? The Daily Mail has 2.14 million followers and the Guardian has 6.91 million. This makes it clear that the Guardian is more popular, I think this is because the audience for the Guardian is an age that is more likely to have twitter and be on social media.  2. Make a note of any branding used on the twitter feed, including any slogans.   3. List the news items that are included on their feed and categorise them into news stories: economic, political, crime, international, environmental, celebrity and feature stor...

What is being sold? Research company background, type of product and price. Old Spice is made by the company Wieden+Kennedy, Portland. The first products were for women which was introduced in 1937 and then men's products were released in 1938, the products sold are shaving cream, aftershave, deodorant, body wash and body spray. Old Spice introduced its body wash for men in 2003. As the category grew, however, so did the competition. By 2006 Old Spice was losing ground, so it appointed a new advertising agency which was Wieden+Kennedy. Wieden+Kennedy is an independently owned American advertising agency best known for its work with Nike. It was founded by Dan Wieden and David Kennedy. Its headquarters are in Portland, Oregon and it is one of the largest independently owned  advertising agencies in the world. The price is £8.95 for a 125ml bottle of aftershave and £7.16 for a 100ml bottle. In February 2010, Wieden+Kennedy launched a new Old Spice advertising campaign, 'Sm...

Power and Media Industries – Curran and Seaton A political economy approach to the media – arguing that patterns of ownership and control are the most significant factors in how the media operate. Media industries follow the normal capitalist pattern of increasing concentration of ownership in fewer and fewer hands. This leads to a narrowing of the range of opinions represented and a pursuit of profit at the expense of quality or creativity. The internet does not represent a rupture with the past in that it does not offer a level playing field for diverse voices to be heard. It is constrained by nationalism and state censorship. News is still controlled by powerful news organisations, who have successfully defended their oligarchy. Cultural Industries – Hesmondhalgh Cultural industries follow the normal capitalist pattern of increasing concentration and integration – cultural production is owned and controlled by a few conglomerates who vertically integrate across a range of m...

All Newspapers:                  The Guardian:                                    The Daily Mail:        -Pro-capitalist                       -Socialist                                            -Capitalist -Mainstreamed                     -Economics/Politics                          On Monday 6th November, the main headlines...

1. How many organisations own national newspapers and do any companies own more than one title? If so, are these titles linked together? UK national newspapers, ranked by 2017 sales   Title Type Owner Sales March 2017 (Mar 05) Sun popular tabloid News International Newspapers Ltd 1,602,320 (3.273m) Daily Mail midmarket tabloid Associated Newspapers (DMGT) 1,442,924 (2.426m) Daily Mirror popular tabloid Trinity Mirror* 692,295 (1.720) The Daily Telegraph quality broadsheet Telegraph Group Ltd 460,585 (907,329) The Times quality compact News International Newspapers Ltd 440,736 (679,190) Daily Star popular tabloid Express Newspapers Ltd (Northern & Shell) 436,963 (854,480) Daily Express popular tabloid Express Newspapers Ltd (Northern & Shell) 386,720 (948,375) City AM quality compact City AM Ltd 91,065 (2005 launch) The Financial Times** quality broadsheet Financial Times Ltd (Nikkei) 190,046 (419,386) The Guardian quality Berliner  Guardi...