Unit 2 Certificate, 2.1 - "Outline ways in which a media product is constructed for a specific audience."

Unit 2 Certificate, 2.1 - "Outline ways in which a media product is constructed for a specific audience."

When thinking of a product, the first thing that should pop into your head - even if the money side/making profit doesn't cross your mind - should be, 'Who is this for?'. Even if something is meant for you and only you, if you want the chance to get it out there in the world, you'll have to find your market and that audience, even if it only consists of one person. 

There are a fair few ways in which a media product is constructed for a specific audience. Because there are so many different things that can affect a product (from gender, to age, to nationality), no matter how much I dislike that industries carve out a particular product to sell to a market that will include a certain 'type' of person, it happens. 

I'm going to hone in on an audience in particular, one, I believe, I know a little bit about - teenage girls.

Before I speak about a certain media product that has been shaped for this age group, a person that has, without doubt, been moulded for this target market is Justin Bieber. Love him, hate him, or don't really care about him, he has been around for a while now, and though he himself can't be considered a media product (only a product of the media), there are a fair few things that his name has been attached to that screams of targeting his girl-filled audience.

Excuse the nail varnish line, weird perfume, and his selection of dolls, Justin Bieber, to me, is mostly known for releasing puppy-dog radio-and-mother-friendly music, putting him in the position of being seen as a tad cooler than the Disney kids, but not quite. 


Though he is only a few albums into his career (most of which are remixes), the media frenzy around him has already been in full swing for the last few years, and doesn't look like it is calming down any time soon. 

So what does Justin Bieber have to do with the construction of a media product? Well, his most recent album release, Under the Mistletoe, is the perfect example of a product aimed straight at a specific audience, and I shall tell you why.

I think we're all in the know about the Christmas season being heavy on the spending, and  the time when parents will fork out a fair bit of money to buy presents for the kids. Justin Bieber has been molded for the pre-teen and early teenaged girl age bracket, the age group that don't have their own money coming their way, but instead, are at the disposal of their parents much-bigger income.

What is the clincher for me when it comes to this release is that Bieber is donating 'some' of the proceeds to a charity. Yes, the kid that is worth nearly a $100 million could have gone all out and donated all of the earnings of the album to a charity of his choice (with some, naturally, going to his record company because they couldn't possibly need more money than they already have) - but no. Still, the ringing of 'charity' along with 'Christmas' in any mother's ears will make it even more of an easy sell for the album.

No matter the cheap cash-in that some have mentioned this album obviously is, the perfectly-pitched marketing from Team Bieber is too good to ignore. 

Though others - i.e fans - may disagree with the statement I am about to give, it all seems even more obvious than usual that Bieber is practically a musical cash-cow. So, the teen-sensation releases an album around the time, in terms of money, people are more 'giving', and parents are willing to adhere to this because it is all in the vain of Christmas, and more so for a festive-themed album, and people don't bat an eyelash? Even if  family, parents, friends etc. aren't willing to fork out the cash before December, the fact that the album is shoved full of Christmas songs makes it a kind of must-buy for the 25th. Plus, on top of this, it has been a while (for the patience of teenage girls anyway) when Bieber last released new music, leaving more anticipation for anything music-related from the 17 year old. Thinking about Under the Mistletoe now, there isn't that much difference from when the remix album of Bieber's documentary Never Say Never stormed the box office. Seeing a pattern here?

Christmas-themed albums have always done well in the charts, particularly for publicised pop-artists, and Bieber is one of the many who have lined up on the success that comes with season albums, managing to shift over 210,000 units (copies) of Under the Mistletoe in its first week of release. I'm sure the album will be selling plenty more copies come December.