Magazine advertisement analysis #2

This advertising poster is for Plan B's album 'The Defamation of Strickland Banks'. This is his second studio album and was released in 2010 through his record company Atlantic. Plan B is largely a hip-hop soul singer, and this is portrayed through his overall image.

Plan B wears a sharp, expensive looking suit, which links him both to the hip-hop aspect of his music, in that he looks as though his is wealthy, and to the soul genre in that he is smart. Within this particular image Plan B also holds a microphone that is often seen used by soul singers, and is not the typical microphone used by artists, in which they can detach from the stand. Plan B is looking away within the image, his face and body illuminated so that he stands out against the plain black background. This image makes it seem as though he is possibly performing when the picture is being taken.

There are three colours evident upon the this advertisement, those being red, white and black. The red colour is used on the largest item of text, which is Plan B's name, displayed at the very top of the poster in bold font, and on the capitalized text describing the album as being 'The multi-platinum album of the year', which ultimately creates a certain hype surrounding the album, forcing the audience to become intrigued as to why the album has earned this title. In bright white text is the name of the album, which has again been capitalized and emboldened in order to allow it to stand out. The white also contrasts against the black background making it clear and illuminated. The final item of text upon the advertisment is a list of different media texts and the number of stars they have rated the album. Ultimately every magazine has rated it four stars. Using this display of "star rated", the audience can see how other listeners feel about the album. The audience are more likely to buy a four star album than a two star, and so with all ratings being four star, audiences are especially likely to purchase the album in order to see if they enjoy the music as much as other listeners clearly have. Each of the companies who have rated the album are also fairly recognisable, such as 'Q' magazine. Therefore, buyers of these particular media texts may also purchase the album due to it being recommended by something which they already purchase and enjoy.

Also upon the advertisement, in the bottom left-hand corner, is a thumbnail image of the actual album cover. This will help the reader to recognise what the album cover looks like in order to make them more likely to purchase it if they happen to see it on the shelf. Also at the bottom of the advertisment are conventional aspects such as Plan B's website address and the logo for his record company. This allows readers who may not be familiar with the artist to research him on the internet and gain more knowledge and interest within his music.

I think the audience for this particular advertisment will mainly be those who purchase and read the media text which featured the poster, however will have been mostly viewed in detail by fans of Plan B. I think due to his overall style of music, Plan B will attract a slightly more mature audience of 17-26, due to his mix between r&b/hip-hop and soul music.