5. What I have learnt about the representation of events, issues, individuals and social groups in print adverts and how I intend to demonstrate this knowledge and understanding in my production in order to communicate meaning successfully

It is important that the events depicted in an advert, whether print, TV, or radio, include representation of events, issues, individuals and social groups in order to communicate their messages effectively to their target audience. In my research that I conducted to find how I should best incorporate representation into my own advert, I located several existing adverts where these issues of representation have been clearly considered.

For example, the quote on this advert communicates ideas of resilience in the face of failure, and in turn represents the woman in the advert as a strong and capable individual, especially shown through her pose and the physical strength it indicates she has. This therefore connotes that the product, too, will make the user better, stronger, and able to bounce back from anything. Alicia Sacramone, an American gymnast, has been used as the model for the advert, someone who is known to be successful in her field. This suggests the model to be an inspirational figure for the target audience. Even though the advert references the fact that she fell off the balance beam at Beijing 2008, it uses this to emphasise her resilience.

Here, traditional stereotypes about masculinity and strength being attractive are reinforced and used to appeal to the target audience who may want to be as attractive as the man in the image. The model is in a pose that emphasises his physical strength and there is an implicit sexual reference in ''As worn by men with big ticks', suggesting that they will experience enhanced social interaction if they use the product. Overall, this advert plays into traditional ideas about what men imagine is attractive to the opposite sex and uses these representations to better appeal to the target audience.






In my adverts, I have chosen to represent both sexes in order to communicate the unisex target audience of the product to the viewer and make it represent both genders of the potential buyers. I have done this by making the 'main character' of the adverts ambiguous - you could see the meeting from the perspective of the male or female and it would not change anything. This also promotes equality of gender, as they are depicted as equal in all four adverts. I have also created a positive representation of a healthy, active lifestyle, as the subjects of the adverts are always depicted outside and enjoying themselves in the presence of sport or exercise, and this should present activity as social and positive. My advert also creates a positive representation of 16-25 year olds and shows them to be friendly and sociable, in contrast to how the media might want to portray young people as stereotypically antisocial or as troublemakers. Representing their age demographic in a positive and realistic way is therefore likely to appeal to the target audience.