Advertising, Marketing and Music Video

What Advertising, Marketing and Music Video covers

Advertising, Marketing and Music Video is examined in AS Unit 1, Investigating the Media. It covers print advertising: layout, typography and design codes, audio-visual advertising: camerawork, editing and sound, online advertising and its design conventions, charity and public information campaigns, commercial advertising for consumer goods, historical advertising before 1980, Barthes, semiotics and the meanings of an advertisement, representations of gender in advertising and music video, representations of ethnicity and age, and Stuart Hall on representation, Gauntlett, identity and the audience as pick-and-mix, music video: performance, narrative and concept, music video before 2000 and the changing form, marketing, audience categories and targeting and audience response, reception theory and media effects.

The 14 subtopics

Each one has its own page. WJEC AS Media Studies students sit this topic in the first year.

• Print advertising: layout, typography and design codesLayout of a print advertisement, term mode of address and dominant image in an advertisement's layout.Open →
• Audio-visual advertising: camerawork, editing and soundDiegetic sound, effect of slow motion in an advertisement and sting in advertising sound design.Open →
• Online advertising and its design conventionsBanner advertisement, pre-roll advertising and call to action in online advertising.Open →
• Charity and public information campaignsPurpose of a public information campaign, how This Girl Can uses representation to address its audience and compassion fatigue.Open →
• Commercial advertising for consumer goodsUnique selling point, what brand identity means and how aspirational advertising works.Open →
• Historical advertising before 1980Recall questions on what old advertising reveals about its society, the dominant representation of women in the 1950s, copy-heavy print, the Guinness, Heinz, Coca-Cola, Hovis and PG Tips campaigns and their dates, the tobacco advertising ban, and why a pre-1980 advertisement now reads as funny or shocking.Open →
• Barthes, semiotics and the meanings of an advertisementIconic sign, symbolic sign and how the hermeneutic code works in an advertisement.Open →
• Representations of gender in advertising and music videoMale gaze and metrosexual representation of masculinity.Open →
• Representations of ethnicity and age, and Stuart Hall on representationNegative representation of an ethnic group, concept of under-representation and tokenism in representation.Open →
• Gauntlett, identity and the audience as pick-and-mixWhat Gauntlett means by pick-and-mix, saying identity is constructed rather than given and how advertising sells identity rather than product information.Open →
• Music video: performance, narrative and conceptCommercial purpose of a music video, performance-based music video and narrative music video.Open →
• Music video before 2000 and the changing formVideo that opened MTV's first broadcast, why the launch of MTV changed record company spending and how controversy can function commercially for a music video.Open →
• Marketing, audience categories and targetingHow audiences are categorised demographically, psychographic categorisation and term mass audience.Open →
• Audience response, reception theory and media effectsOppositional reading of an advertisement, george Gerbner's cultivation theory and mean world syndrome.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Advertising, Marketing and Music Video further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Demographics vs Psychographics

  Demographics: grouping an audience by measurable social facts such as age, income and occupation. Psychographics: grouping them by attitudes, values and lifestyle.

• Anchorage vs Mode of address

  Anchorage: the way words fix a single meaning to an otherwise open image. Mode of address: the way a product speaks to the audience it wants.

• Product placement vs Celebrity endorsement

  Product placement: a paid appearance of a branded item inside somebody else's media text. Celebrity endorsement: a famous person publicly recommending a brand.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is meant by the layout of a print advertisement?

   Model answer

   Layout is the arrangement of images, text and space on the page, and it controls the order in which a reader takes the advertisement in.

2. 2

   Define the term mode of address.

   Model answer

   Mode of address is the way a media product speaks to its audience, including how formal, direct or intimate that address is.

3. 3

   How does a direct mode of address work in a print advertisement?

   Model answer

   A direct mode of address speaks to the reader as you, or has a model look straight out of the frame, which creates a personal relationship and makes the reader feel individually spoken to.

4. 4

   What is the dominant image in an advertisement's layout?

   Model answer

   The dominant image is the largest and most prominent visual element, placed to catch the eye first and to carry the advertisement's central idea.

5. 5

   Explain why an advertiser might place the product in the lower right of a page.

   Model answer

   Readers of English scan a page from top left to bottom right, so the lower right is where the eye settles and the product is remembered as the conclusion of the message.

6. 6

   What is a strapline?

   Model answer

   A strapline is a short memorable phrase attached to a brand or campaign that summarises its message and is repeated across products.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Advertising, Marketing and Music Video revision questions

Is Advertising, Marketing and Music Video examined at AS in WJEC Media Studies?

Yes. It sits in AS Unit 1, which you take in the first year, so it is on the AS paper as well as counting towards the full A level.

What does Advertising, Marketing and Music Video cover in WJEC AS-Level Media Studies?

14 subtopics: print advertising: layout, typography and design codes, audio-visual advertising: camerawork, editing and sound, online advertising and its design conventions, charity and public information campaigns, commercial advertising for consumer goods, historical advertising before 1980, barthes, semiotics and the meanings of an advertisement, representations of gender in advertising and music video, representations of ethnicity and age, and stuart hall on representation, gauntlett, identity and the audience as pick-and-mix, music video: performance, narrative and concept, music video before 2000 and the changing form, marketing, audience categories and targeting and audience response, reception theory and media effects. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Advertising, Marketing and Music Video organised?

By the WJEC 603-1976-8 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.