Analyse 'The Score' and 'Drugs the Facts' looking at how genres have been used and subverted in order to attract a specific audience. How effective is this?

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Analyse ‘The Score’ and ‘Drugs the Facts’ looking at how genres have been used and subverted in order to attract a specific audience. How effective is this?

The leaflets ‘The Score’ and ‘Drugs the Facts’ both use the same genre as a teen magazine would, although they have subverted all the generic conventions so that they are in some way associated with drugs. Many effects are designed to achieve a subconscious response. As the reader registers them subliminally this is very effective.

The overt purpose of both leaflets is to try and give accurate information about drug use and try to prevent it. ‘Drugs the Facts’ has a target audience of around 11-14. The institutional belief held behind the writers about this demographic audience is that they do not exploit drug use, and this topic is new to them. Therefore they have produced this leaflet that it advises children to stay away from drugs and never come into contact with them. ‘The Score’ is for a more sophisticated audience (14-18), and is designed to alert drug users of the peril they could be in when they take drugs. It is also intended to eliminate fallacy and make adolescents thinking of using, or already using, drugs more aware of the risks. Both leaflets have the generic features of commercial magazines. These magazines present themselves as your friends, so you feel reassured and that your thoughts are valid.

‘Drugs the Facts’ and ‘The Score’ use a dark purple background. The connotations of the colour purple are wealth, intelligence, and sophistication; all the things growing teenagers aspire to being. These leaflets are supposed to be a source of intelligence for anybody reading them, so that could be why their covers are purple. The eye on the cover and contents of ‘Drugs the Facts’ could be a symbol that this leaflet gives an ‘insight’ into drugs. Red on the content page gives the connotations of danger, and the harm drugs can cause if the user abuses them. The layout of this leaflet is much like that of a conventional teenage magazine, and it with high production values, to attract a younger audience. On the cover and the contents page of ‘The Score’ different drugs are represented by symbols, this makes the leaflet seem more interesting.

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        ‘The Score’ and ‘Drugs the Facts’ use different language formats to get the message through about drugs.

        ‘Drugs the Facts’ uses very simple, informal language, which gets straight to the point.

        On the other hand, ‘The Score’ uses a wider range of language such as ‘psilocybe semilaneata’ (the Latin name for magic mushrooms), which is more accurate and more formal. Slang language is also used like the feeling of being ‘spaced-out’, although this language is used much less frequently, than formal language in order to attract a more knowledgeable audience.

        In ‘Drugs the Facts’, there is a varied font ...

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