The Big Issue Flashcards
Industry context
The Big Issue is an independent magazine company and is not part of a larger conglomerate.
- Dennis publishing to print the magazine
- They operate one a not-for-profit basis, using any excess revenue to support homeless people
- Sold through vendors which are often homeless people or people living in poverty
- Street vendors purchase copies of the big issue for 1.25 each and sell them on for 2.50 each,
- The goal is to give homeless people a legal way of earning money
What are some other ways that the big issue help people?
- In 1995 they they diversified into more direct support with the big issue foundation - providing homeless people with training, workshops, information on how to get support with various issues such as mental health, domestic abuse, housing.
- In 2005 they set up the big issue invest, which is a financial fund available for charities and small businesses.
How can Curran and Seaton be applied?
- Big issue is an example of a product and company that is not all about profit and power, but instead giving back to the community, making it very different to most magazines in the market. Many brands with similar ABC1 audiences choose to place adverts in the print magazine and on the website, this increases the revenue for the big issues - but they reserve a lot of space for adverts about charities and other community projects but do sometimes go into the more expensive areas for that ABC1 audience,
What has Big Issue done to increase audiences?
Started distributing digitally through distribution company Zinio.
- The revenue from digital sales is used to support vendors
What did big issue do in response to falling print sales?
At the height of their success in the early 2000s, their vendors were selling 300,000 a week- however, the magazine industry has suffered massively as more and more people are choosing online content instead of print content. As of 2011, they were “only” selling 125,000 copies a week and so they decided to redesign and relaunch The Big Issue in an attempt to boost sales. The magazine started to feature a lot more content about political and social reform. They also featured more celebrities including as regular columnists.
The rebranded magazine had a slightly higher cover price in an attempt to help vendors make similar money from potentially reduced sales. In a world where other magazines’ sales continued to plummet, the sales of The Big Issue did eventually pick back up.
What is the main representation in the big issue?
Their pages represent homeless people in a positive and sympathetic light because supporting the homeless is their main goal as a magazine,
How is homelessness represented?
The letters page features various letters. One titled “celebrating vendors” refers to homeless vendors of the magazine as “inspirational” and “friendly”. The use of personal stories and first-person perspectives helps readers to understand and sympathetic with homeless vendors. This page represents a typically underrepresented social group.
-The reference to the weather creates a representation of homeless people as being brave and strong. The representations aren’t all positive though, they do include some more gritty details of homeless culture, like being included in drugs, alcohol, and even violence. This creates a seemingly realistic representation of homeless life for vendors and doesn’t attempt to make the vendors seem perfect.
The representations of homelessness are not idealised.
How are men represented stereotypically?
Sky Westworld advert
- Represents men as powerful, successful and important. Reasonably stereotypical representation of men in the media.
- The article called ‘Why don’t homeless people just go home?’ where they interview various of heads of different organisations, but every single person they interviewed is male. Which suggests men are more likely to get jobs in high positions - lack of inclusion of female bosses might reflect context that women are less likely be hired for managerial jobs. Continuing to represent men as in positions of power and status.
How are men represented atypically?
Whilst David Bowie was of course rich, successful and powerful, he also challenged traditional ideas about masculinity in many ways. He was, alongside is music, known for his androgynous looks and for wearing makeup and not being afraid to experiment with clothes, costume, shoes, makeup, etc. He’s very much someone who didn’t care about gender norms, so there are some moments in The Big Issue, by featuring Bowie, that challenge gender stereotypes. This is further reinforced by featuring Grayson Perry, who like Bowie, wasn’t afraid of defying gender norms.
The representation of Grayson Perry is counter typical as it shows a man comfortable with expressing his more feminine and creative side by wearing dresses and makeup. He talks about his experience and uses terms to express his sexuality such as “transvestite”, so this adds a more modern and diverse representation of masculinity that is often not seen in mainstream media products. However, he does talk about “still watching war films” and expressing a wanting “to be a jet pilot” at 16, with a plan to join the army, so some aspects of him are presented in a more traditionally masculine way. This makes the representation of masculinity quite complex and not one-dimensional.
How are women represented?
There are some representations of women that challenge gender stereo types such as women in positions of leadership, especially politically like Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon. Some articles represent women as educated and respected in their fields, provision a countertop to many mainstream representations of women. Representations of women being quite strong and empowered, counter typical of what you’d see normally.
- The woman on the Turn2Us charity advert stating ‘money was tight when my husband became terminally ill’ suggesting women can’t cope financially once their husband isn’t able to provide, a very stereotypically representation of women relying on men financially.
What is The Big Issue’s target audience?
Typical readers of The Big Issue are more likely to be left wing, have liberal, alternative points of view, so it makes sense for the magazine to include these representations on their pages.
