Deconstruct an Advertisement – JLS ‘Beat again’

It is evident from the meat shot on the poster that The genre of the group being advertisement is boy band / pop. Each of the members of the group are gazing at the camera, or at us, creating this first person mode of address, which makes the viewers feel familiar with the band. This is a typical convention of a boy band. Furthermore, each of the males are well groomed, and well dressed, indicating that they are young, fresh and full of life. This reinforces the cult of youth and beauty, and because the band is aesthetically pleasing, this could attract more members of the public to their product, especially females. Moreover, the gaze that the 4 group members are using, can be seen as sexually provocative, and so this voyeuristic factor is created. They are being used in a sexual way to sell their product. The background colour of the advert is black. This is so that when the advert is looked at the contrast of the colorful title against the background helps us catch the name of the group first. JLS. This can also be known as the Dominant reading path. The next thing that we look at is the group them self. And then eventually the song title ‘Beat Again’ and its release date. Then the clothes that they wear are all very modern and trendy. Another important aspect of a boy band is to be current with fashion. From the photo it is evident that JLS are. This will attract more fans, because more people will aspire to be like them.

In their logo there is the symbol of a star, which suggests that they are becoming stars through the music that they produce. The title of the song is ‘beat again’ which would sometimes automatically inform the consumers that the song is about a heart beating again. This indicates that the song is about love or heartbreak which is a typical theme for a boy band to sing about.

In this advert the band are represented as young, well groomed and iconic figures. This adds to their meta-narrative in the sense that this new, young, boy band that have been introduced are in fact the trendy new icons. JLS were created by X factor, which is a very mainstream television programme. A large portion of the public followed their progress and watched them win the X factor, now, they have kept the same personas and that’s why there product is further marketable. Because people relate to them and feel that they are close to them because they followed their progress since day one.