Attitude

Question 1

Representations of minority groups

Answer 1

• Website includes a range of ethnicities, reflecting the cosmopolitan nature of modern Britain e.g. Ncuti Gatwa, a successful black actor on a front cover
• Representations of men who don’t adhere to ‘gender norms’, wearing make-up, drag etc. This reflects the alternative genre of the online site e.g. Yvie Oddly front cover (RuPaul’s Drag Race winner)
• The focus of the wesbite is on gay men, and whilst other members of LGBTQ are featured, they are given less space
• Positive, powerful normalised representations of gay men fills a niche gap in the market, where gay men are often under/misrepresented in the media

Question 2

Arguments against representations of minority groups

Answer 2

• Predominantly white, Western countries are shown as much more tolerant and positive, creating an ethnocentric window on the world
• Argued that Attitude creates a post-colonialist view of the World with non-white, non-Western cultures being shown as ‘backwards, aggressive, violent, ignorant etc.
• Many stories about other cultures and countries are quite negative, representing them as homophobic, discriminatory, and places to be avoided

Question 3

Representations of men

Answer 3

• Powerful and successful e.g. Sam Smith a successful singer
• Men they feature are typically wealthy, successful, powerful, middle-class etc. This fits with the aspirational branding of the magazine
• Lots of semi-naked images of men designed to highlight their muscles and strength, representing them in a conventional ‘heroic’ way
• Articles lack emotional content, which reflects the stereotype that men are supposed to be emotionally detached
• Some content represents men as more emotionally vulnerable, particularly in terms of issues such as homophobic abuse and discrimination
• Representations of men victimised (Dr Ranj Singh article), which encourages a sympathetic response from readers, and may be relatable for gay men from strict religious families
• Men are sexualised on the Attitude website, reflecting the gay male audience
• Staff a Attitude are predominantly LGBTQ and male

Question 4

Representation theory applicable

Answer 4

• Stuart Hall representation theory: stereotypes of men being emotionless
• Paul Gilroy post-colonial theory: creates the idea that Western countries are more progressive than other countries

Question 5

Audience: Demographic

Answer 5

• Gay men
• Target age of 25-50
• ABC1 socio-economic groups

Question 6

How do they target men

Answer 6

• Content is factual and avoids deep emotional responses, which may appeal to men
• Clickbait style headlines, designed to get audiences to click further into the website
• Simple layout, easy to read with small chunks of text, large images and lots of white space - conforms to stereotypes of men not wanting to read
• Number of stories about men, and male issues and most of the images are men

Question 7

How do they target 25-55 year olds

Answer 7

• Celebrities relatable to people in this age range, or are these ages themselves
• Focus on retro 90s, fashion, film, pop culture - makes audiences feel nostalgia
• Choice of social media, being Facebook and Twitter infers an older audience
• Lots of political and current issues, may presume that younger audience may not be interested in this content
• Lack of interactive content, signifying a slightly older audience
• Focus on print version indicates target audience of older people

Question 8

How do they target ABC1 audience

Answer 8

• Adverts target based on readers’ wealth, connoting an aspirational audience
• Formal, complex language, indicating a highly regulated ABC1 audience
• Lots of middle-class interests referenced on website e.g. going to the theatre, 5-star luxury holidays

Question 9

How do they target a gay/LGBTQ audience

Answer 9

• Lots of references to the pride flag and rainbow colours
• Many stories about issues gay men experience in their own life (relatable)
• Many gay celebrities are featured on different editions
• Website lacks content about families/having kids
• Provides an opportunity for LGBTQ audiences to be able to identify themselves in the content

Question 10

Oppositional reading

Answer 10

• Not all audiences respond in positive ways, as some audiences may feel that the focus is too much on gay men, and that it neglects to focus on other memebers of LBTQ
• Hate/Hompphobic comments on social media platforms

Question 11

How do they target different psychographics

Answer 11

Reformers:
- Lots of social justice stories about discrimination and homophobia, which target ‘reformers’ who want to make change
Aspirers:
- Middle-class, lavish lifestyle targeted through implementation of things such as 5-star holidays and theatre trips

Question 12

Audience theory

Answer 12

• Stuart Hall reception theory
• Stuart Hall representations theory: explains why the content is displayed how it is to target male audience
• David Gauntlett pick n mix theory: men can choose what to identify with and relate with in the magazine, as there are many articles and images to select from

Question 13

Industry

Answer 13

• Originally published by Northern & Shell
• Stream publishing bout Attitude (Owner Darren Styles)
• Stream owned both leading gay magazines in Britain and Europe (Winq and Attitude)
• Vertically integrated
• Have power to be creative as they’re independent
• Global editions
• Digital editions for tablet and phone
• Website attracts roughly 1.7m users per month
• 1.2m+ followers across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube
• Digital copies sell over 11,000 copies per month
• Digital editions mean they are able to distribute their product globally
• Use social media to target younger audience
• Attitude Magazine Foundation, which is a registered charity
• Uses technology to reflect current social and cultural contexts of what is going on in the country to try and keep readers engaged