Adbusters Double Page Analysis

 Adbusters Double Page Spread

How are representations of ethnicity constructed? List at least three aspects of mise en scene that construct representations of ethnicity. What messages about ethnicity are constructed? How are black people represented? How are white people represented? How does this make you feel?

• black people are represented to be extremely poor and fighting poverty
• binary opposition between black child wearing milk bottle shoes and the model on the runway wearing proper shoes
• white people are represented as wealthy and almost superior to black people
• the unequal images may anger the audience as it is heavily stereotyping that all black people are in poverty and all white people wear luxury 'runway' clothes

How do these representations reflect the industry context/ ideology of Adbusters? Adbusters is an unconventional magazine, targeting an audience who are interested in political activism. What can audiences DO with this double page spread?

• Adbusters is presented as a magazine which isn't like any others in the market, and this is reflected through the content featured in the exam
• having the double page spread feature content which emotionally distresses the audience can influence their habits, such as not buying from Louibiton

How is the audience positioned in relation to these representations? Where ARE we? Do we want to be there? What aspects of media language (THINK: SHOT TYPE!) position us? How does this make us feel?

• the audience may feel privileged compared to the people on the double page spread as they are faced with poverty and are living in extremely poor conditions, whereas the middle class target audience can afford to buy the magazine which sells usually for more than £10 a copy
• all images on the double page spread feature mid shots allowing us to feel as if we are there and almost allow us to view the images from a first-hand perspective
• as the audience feel 'there', they feel a lot more emotional and can relate more to the people in the images

What are Loubitons? Google it! What do you think this brand will feel about having their brand name and logo featured in this way?

• luxury fashion brand targeted at women selling high-end luxury shoes with an iconic and easily identifiable red sole
• having their brand shown in comparison with a poor black child wearing bottle flip flops makes the brand seem as if they are exploiting these people and creates heavy damage on the brand identity

How can Stuart Hall’s ideas be applied to these pages? What function do stereotypes play?

• those with an anti-capitalist view, like Adbusters, may agree with the message the advert is portraying whilst those who agree with a capitalist society may disagree with the advert

To what extent does the set edition of Adbusters construct complex and challenging representations?

Plan

Paragraph One

• binary oppositions
• page 2 - white model and black people behind barbed wire
• page 1 shoes and page 2 shoes
• images poorly placed together to show they have no similarities
• Louibuton brand identity
• image quality

Paragraph Two

• camera angles
• feel in the scene and as if you are getting a birds eye perspective of the images, evoking an emotional response
• don't want to admit its true but we are faced directly with the facts

Paragraph Three

• representation of black people vs white people
• heavily stereotyping and somewhat racist
• connotations of slavery, child labour
• poor quality image of black people - poor? - and high quality image of white person
• lack of text/lexis shows they don't need to describe it as the images are so self explanatory

To what extent does the set edition of Adbusters construct complex and challenging representations?

Adbusters constructs complex and challenging representations throughout the magazine through various ways, including binary oppositions. An example of this is shown on the second page of the double page spread between the people of colour behind the barbed wire and the white model walking freely down what appears to be a runway. Adbusters uses emotionally heavy images which directly affect the target audience to emphasise the inequality caused by capitalism and shows how the world is still not equal today. Adbusters is an anti-capitalism magazine like many of the target audience, however capitalist readers may not agree with this ideology. Further, another example of binary opposition is through the MES of the flip flops made out of milk bottles on page 1 and the brand of Louibutin . These 'milk bottle flip flops' are not proper shoes and do not provide enough protection for the child wearing them. To oppose to this, Louibutin is a luxury high-end shoe brand selling shoes with an iconic and recognisable red sole, retailing between £650 and £1450 a pair. The contrast between these high-end shoes and milk-bottle shoes again evokes an emotional response and the audience feel resentment towards the Louibutin brand and are likely to go against buying from them as from the image the audience infers that Louibutin exploits the black child for cheap labour which still leaves them unable to afford proper shoes, despite the fact the shoes retail for a significant amount. 

Further, the images used in the double page spread are all mid shots which makes the audience feel as if they are looking at the image from a personal view, and as we can't see the whole image our minds are almost left to imagine the rest of the image themselves. However, as we can't see the whole image it could be interpreted as we already know what the image looks like (e.g we know the model on the runway will be wearing a nice outfit and the child wearing 'milk bottle flip flops' will also be wearing a cheap and worn outfit). To continue, there is no lexis on the second page of the double page spread. The second page focuses on the inequality between black and white people, and the fact there is no text at all connotes that the images can tell the story, and it's so simple that you don't need it to be explained to you.

Finally, the difference in representation of people of colour vs white people is shown throughout numerous ways in the double page spread, one of which being the quality of the images. The landscape image of the people of colour behind barbed wire is in poor quality and in black and white opposed to the high definition image of the white model creating a contrast reflective of people of colour being mistreated continually. The connotations of the poor quality image of the people of colour could infer that they are living in poor conditions and creates yet another visual representation of the inequality between people of colour and white people. The images of the people of colour on the double page spread all have connotations of child labour, slavery and/or mistreatment which is very upsetting for the audience to see and it makes them want to create a social change to stop this.

Overall, Adbusters constructs complex and challenging representations to evoke an emotional reaction from the audience and make them want to enact social change and prevent this outdated inequality from continuing any longer.