Magazine advertisement analysis 1

Language: The first thing I noticed relating to the media language of this text is that the photograph is black and white. Black and white is conventionally used when the artist is trying to portray the image of being dangerous and daring. I also noticed that the font on "Rihanna The new album" is in a similar font to the one used on prisoner's number placards. This reinforces the image that the artist is rebellious and dangerous. The colour of the font used on "Russian Hard Roulette" is in red which is also a colour that signifies danger. The use of the word "Hard" also gives the artist a rough image.

Institution: The institution for this advertisement is Island Def Jam, Rihanna's record label. This particular record label is known for signing R'n'B artistists in particular such as Rihanna.

Ideology: The first thing which comes to mind is the artist is portrayed in a typical gangsta type image, with the use of black and white and "Russian Hard Roulette".  She also appears dangerous because it says "Rated R" underneath the image of her. In the USA, rated R is a level of classification for media products such as films, DVDs and albums. Its is also the classification that is usually given to the media products with the most violence or adult content. The use of this portrays her as having the image of being dangerous and daring. It is also a play on words as the artist is called Rihanna and then it says "Rated R" which is also the first letter of her name.

Audience:  The audience for this particular album advertisement is between the ages of about 17-25,  as the record company have attempted to give the artist a more adult appeal, as it has a parental advisory warning on it. The target audience is mainly female, however from this advertisement it appears that its is aimed at tomboys because she portrays a masculine image with her short hair and the use of dark clothing. This may also be an attempt to appeal to more males too, as the typical image of the artist is girly rather than the image that is portrayed on this advertisement.

Representation: As well as being portrayed as dangerous, she also portrays a very gothic image with the use of dark clothing, heavy make up and jewllery. However she also portrays the stereotypical female R'n'B artist image, as it is typical for female R'n'B artists to be wearing a lot of jewllery, particularly rings.  By wearing the rings she is representing the stereotypical 'bad girl' gangsta image, and this is possibly a reflection on the songs featured on the tracklist. The songs on this album are also generally darker with more adult content than Rihanna's previous albums.