Marcus Rashford Flashcards
Who is Marcus Rashford
Marcus is a high-profile footballer for Manchester United and England.
Marcus has become a powerful social media influencer and is not afraid to use social media to communicate with his audience rather than more formal media platforms.
Marcus has directed most of his efforts towards the promotion of good causes and social campaigns rather than the promotion of commercial products and personal gain.
Media Audience: Why do people engage with Marcus Rashford?
Uses and Gratifications theory as developed by Blumler and Katz suggests that media users play an active role in choosing and using the media. Bulmer and Katz believed that a user will want to engage with a media product for one of up to five different reasons.
Information and Education (sometimes called surveillance): the viewer wants to learn from media products. Marcus’s work on food poverty has taught many about the challenges
Personal Identity / Relatability - Football enables fans to relate to their team or town. The poverty drive that Marcus has become the driver of also is highly relatable to many sectors of societies.
Social interaction – the ability for media products to produce a topic of conversation between people. Marcus’s work on poverty / free school meals has allowed people to build networks based on these issues and subsequent public action. His football career also facilitates different network building virtually or in reality.
Entertainment or Escape (sometimes called diversion) – Sport at the highest level is particularly engaging.
Explain at least two uses and gratifications of celebrities using Blumler and Katz’s theory. Refer to Marcus Rashford to support your answer (10).
Celebrities like Marcus Rashford offer entertainment: A footballer playing for Manchester United and England, like many elite sporting stars, allows the player to experience the highs and lows of supporting your team. Sport played at the highest level can offer thrills and excitement which fans find engaging, emotional and addictive.
Supporting Marcus Rashford also offers social interaction/integration: many football teams have developed a worldwide community of fans to come together in reality, at Old Trafford, school playgrounds and pubs, and virtually through social media – this can give them a sense of belonging as if they are a member of a real community. Also, his passionate work on food poverty has made it possible for many media users to becoming actively involved in their community supporting issues related to food, poverty, homelessness and race. This may not have happened without Marcus becoming such a high-profile advocate of these problems and has led to the formation of hundred, possibly thousands, of local social networks.
Being an advocate for marginalised groups in society is something that links strongly to the personal identity of so many people. The profile Marcus has in supporting these issues has clearly been highly relatable to many people who has also joined his crusade.
What are social media codes and conventions?
(verbal language)
Verbal Language:
Use of retweets for issues Marcus cares about reinforcing his social justice agenda and reinforcing Cantell’s Network society theory.
Comments showing humour and informality allowing the audience to socially ‘connect’ with Marcus and feel that there is some interaction with the celebrity. Reinforcing Blumer and Katz Uses and Gratification theory.
What are social media codes and conventions?
(visual language)
Use of collage of images to reinforce messages.
Use of screen-shotted note function from phone to bypass limitations of number of characters that can be used on most social-media platforms. Why do celebrities do this? They can clearly afford PR representatives and Graphic Designers to produce polished press releases and yet produce iPhone notes pages. Could it be that this method seems more natural, more intimate/personal and feels more timely?
Use of emoticons (eg hearts, England flags, etc).
Use of Marcus Rashford logo across most of his platforms.
What are social media codes and conventions
(hypertext)
Hypertext:
Hashtags and weblinks to a range of businesses linked to Marcus and themes to his social action agenda.
What are social media codes and conventions
(other features)
Content is synchronised across all platforms. Most celebrities and businesses do this so that the same text from a tweet will also sync with their facebook/inst/snap platforms. This means there is continuity of message to all the different audiences. Remember, the audience on facebook may well be different to the tiktok audience so it is important not to miss key demographics out!
Who designed MR website
Happy2Host are a London-based Wordpress design agency who have designed a number of websites for prominent black footballers, including Marcus Rashford. They have also designed the website of D N May Sports management, who represent Marcus Rashford and are run by his brothers Dwaine Maynard and Dane Rashford.
website analysis: use of logo
The logo is consistently there to reinforce the Marcus Rashford brand.
website analysis: menu system
The menu system is simple and uses the 2 line ellipsis, although it has been customised. This has been designed so that it is immediately recognisable and also consistent across desktop and mobile devices.
This ultra minimalistic navigations system is increasingly popular and removes difficulty in usability, especially on smaller devices.
website analysis: use of image
Changing images of Marcus showing the smart ‘business’ Marcus, the more-relaxed Marcus, videos of Marcus. Images are used minimally; he uses his socials more for that.
website analysis: colour
Limited in tone using monochrome colours. Apart from shades of black and white being a risk-free combination and ensuring a design will look clean, removing colour forces a designer to rely on other elements in their web designs such as typography, layout or images to engage the user.
website analysis: layout
The layout is simple with some dynamic content available showcasing Marcus. You will note that there are consistent links to his social media sites in the left margin [this is where the real dynamic content is]. This website acts as an online portal to his social media presence.
website features:
Minimalist. This is not a huge website designed to communicate a range of areas of Marcus’s life. This is a method of reinforcing Marcus’s brand, linking to his socials and making a business-only contact with him. This is not a fan site. His socials are absolutely the area for his fan interaction, not his website.
website mode of address:
Formal and business-like. This is for engaging with key individuals and organisations to develop projects that Marcus is passionate about or develop his brand. His socials are for the informal interaction.
