Textual analysis 2 - Top of the Pops

Textual analysis part 2

Top of the pops magazine is based on the iconic television programme, ‘Top of the Pops’ which featured music videos and performances from pop starts who were in the charts. Today the TV show isn’t around but the magazine still heavily focuses on the ins and outs of artist’s lives and the current pop music!

From looking at the front cover of this magazine, I would guess that the target audience would be the younger generation, the majority being girls. Another element of this magazine that suggests it is mainly aimed at girls is the use of colour for both the title (Top of the Pops) and a certain cover line, reading “1D’s confessions, totally personal and definitely private – and all for you!” which is surrounded by a pink bubble. As pink is a colour usually associated with females, this may hinder a boys choice in purchasing the magazine as it wouldn’t feel ‘manly’.

There are many other things that suggest this magazine is gender specific. For example there is a segment with a picture of Leona Lewis paired with text that reads “Does he really like you? Signs to show that he’s interested, by Leona x”. This part of the magazine is clearly aimed at girls, along with a different cover line that is boxed in about women’s fashion on the high street. Unlike these small parts of inside articles, there are no stories that would immediately entice boys to want to purchase and/or read this magazine.

Like many other magazines, on the front cover of this one, we can see that they not only have interesting stories to offer within but they also have posters inside! These would be included to make people want to buy the magazine and get their money’s worth with lots of things that they can enjoy!

The text on this magazine is very basic. The majority of it is all kept at the same font and size apart from the Masthead and main cover line, about One Direction. The reason that the text is kept simple is probably due to the target audience as they are young, the writers would not want to bore the readers with too much text!

Around the outside of the magazine there are small pictures of three boys from the pop industry: Justin Bieber, Conor Maynard and Nathan Sykes (The Wanted). By Justin Bieber’s photo, the text says ‘A very hot surprise!’ This is informal and it also makes people want to read on as they would be eager to find out what this surprise is.

The colours are kept basic. There is pink, blue, black and white. These colours all blend well together especially as the five models (One Direction) shirts are corresponding to the selected pallet. As blue is the background and it is a primary, neutral colour, having the vibrant pink on top of it really puts emphasis on certain cover lines that are in the bright pink boxes/circles.

The models are all wearing blue or white t-shirts. These work well in giving them a basic and down to earth image. The photo of the boys has been taken from a distance, capturing almost their fully bodies. We can see their faces clearly and it shows them all smiling. These facial expressions add to the atmosphere of this issue because it creates a happy mood amongst the possible purchasers.

The publishers of this magazine have subtly added in a website that their readers can visit if they wish to find out more. This could possibly broaden their potential audience and it adds extra value to the magazine because it offers more to those purchasing it!