Big Issue Practice question

 

In the edition of the big issue we see their take on the 2016 UK referendum where the country was voting wether to leave the European union. The magazine had chosen to have a quite comedic take on the event by representing the key British figures as members of the 80s pop group ABBA. in the image we see Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon, Prime Minister David Cameron, UKIP Leader Nigel Farage and London Major Boris Johnson. Sturgeon and Cameron being retainers and Farage and Johnson being leavers.

There are a number of reasons for why the big issue have chosen to reference, one of them being the how well the use of this group will resinate and get the hidden meanings across too their demographic. Being that the audiences of the big issue are members of the ABC1 demographic they tend to understand references to social event especially those taken place in previous pop culture like ABBA and the history of the band. As a result the will understand the line such as 'take a chance' and 'breaking up is never easy I know' being not only references to the EU refereed but to the bands infamous songs. Furthermore many will understand the correlation with the UKs departure from the EU and see the relation with the bands eventual collapse. Another reason for this is they will be able to make references as seen with the song lines being turned in to statements about the referendum as this will allow them to attract readers who are aware of ABBA and will intis them to read more and buy the magazine.

In conclusion, the big issue use intertextuality on their covers in order to encourage their readers to buy as they know their demographic are likely to understand the references they will produce ce for their magazines, furthermore they do it as a way to give indications one what stories will be about and use pop culture references as these indications, increasing viewership and readership of the magazine and benefiting their vendors.