Viewpoints and Ideologies

Welfare- the health, happiness and fortunes of a person or group

Stuart Hall's reception theory:

The Media producers encode products with a message for the audience to take away, they can have 1 of 3 responses.

Preferred reading- the audience take away the intended message and agree with it fully

Oppositional reading- the audience strongly disagree with the message and won't buy the product

Negotiated reading- the audince understand the message and somewhat accept it, but reject parts of it

Audiences might reject different texts for different reasons (CAGEDS)

 Task 1

A 30 year old man, white non disabled and Succeeder/Aspirer would be the Old Spice’s preferred reading audience for several different reasons.

 Starting with the middle class/skilled working class, by showing them a bright and colourful setting similar to the Bahamas, it will make them think of their own wants of being able to afford a holiday there, and so they will take the next best thing which in this case is Old Spice, making them feel better about being unable to afford travel. The use of special effects is effective here because the more exciting the location looks, the more envious the middle class person will be, making them think that they deserve a holiday in the Bahamas, and feeling like Old Spice wants that for them too, as a result, they will feel supported and buy the product. Next, the 30 year old male who would be encouraged to purchase this product primarily due to the actor being male (giving the advert a more masculine feeling and therefore causing the man to feel targeted) and also having a strong physique, therefore making the 30 year old man jealous and making him believe that by using Old Spice, he too can have a great body; with the actor’s smirk further helping this due to the idea being created that he is very body positive and aware of his excellent physique, and it happy with the results, causing the 30 year old man to want the same. Finally, a Succeeder/ Aspirer would be a preferred reader due to the most effective persuasive being the use of escape. By showing an exotic setting related to the Bahamas, it makes it clear that the product comes with a level of affordability by being linked to a remote island, which would be expensive to travel to. As well as this, it can be assumed that someone with that level of wealth has had the pleasure of going abroad before, and therefore seeing the ad will remind them of their positive memories. By making the island location colourful and bright through special effects, the succeeder would be enticed and from there feel included in the target demographic due to their own personal belief that they can afford the product, and have the happy thoughts to encourage them to then purchase it. Thie man will also have a disposable income which would also encourage him to purchase Old Spice due to having no need to save money and being able to spend it on something useful to him.

A white female non-working pensioner that’s also a struggler would have either an oppositional or negotiated reading of the text for several reasons.

Starting with the fact that she is a white female, she is the literal opposite to the model on the advert and therefore will not relate to any part of the advert due to the actor being the main image, she will not find the image relatable or ever similar to her lifestyle and will therefore most likely ignore it. One reason as to why she may be negotiated rather than oppositional is the beauty appeal, despite not looking anything like the actor, she may still find him physically attractive due to physical attractiveness being a common stereotype of black men, and as a result finding a reason to look at the ad which could possibly lead to her buying it. As a result of her age, the woman would have an oppositional approach to the ad due to the man’s muscled body suggesting that the product is made for active and well-built people, she would not be able to move around a lot due to her age, causing her to have no interest in purchasing the product. Finally, the fact that she is a struggler will heavily influence her decision to avoid purchase. The ad focuses on the location of the Bahamas and relies on the persuasive technique of escape to entice people, but tin this case the elderly lady would be possibly offended by how high-end they are making the product seem due to having very little money to take care of herself and as a result of this, make no attempts to buy Old Spice. She is the opposite of the poducts target audience and will therefore have no need or want of the product. As a struggler, she seeks escape which is why the ad will offend her, with the actor's smirk possibly making her feel mocked as a result of being unable to afford things, and because she likes being a victim, she would rather be annoyed by the advert than make any attempt to purchase it or give it a chance.

Task 2