Politics and the representation of marginalised or minority groups

In the run up the general election, the political parties are doing all they can to secure votes from the wider British public - this often means targeting minority groups (who are often otherwise overlooked) or incorporating them into their political campaigns.

Check out some of the examples that I came across this week, some can be applied to your own case studies but all are worth exploring to get an understanding of wider contemporary issues for the exam.

Representation of ethnicity - securing the 'black vote'.

Operation Black vote is a long established organisation encouraging the Black community to register and vote in the UK. Although not associated with a particular political party, they have recruited Saatchi&Saatchi (a world renowned advertising company) to design their latest poster campaign. Have a look at some of the posters below and the accompanying articles and websites.

Some things to consider -

• who is the target audience?
• How are the people within the advert being represented?
• How have the general public reacted to this campaign (both the intended audience and wider public)
• Is this an example of two step flow?

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/apr/15/sol-campbell-turns-skin-white-black-vote

http://www.obv.org.uk/news-blogs/dont-take-colour-out-britain

David Harewood - actor in Homeland

Sol Campbell - footballer

Tinie Tempah - singer (but you knew that...)

Audience response to the campaign in the metro 17/4.

Representation of sexuality - Plaid Cymru

How about this party political broadcast for the welsh party Plaid Cymru?
Watch the first 50 seconds where the actor delivers a speech to his shocked parents as if he is 'coming out' to them.

• Is this a fair representation?
• Is this an example of a post modern technique (Parody/pastiche?)

Here is the response from Pink news: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/03/11/comment-yes-plaid-cymrus-coming-out-broadcast-was-offensive/

Consider who the target audience is for the Pink news and who the target audience is for the party political broadcast. How has the gay community been represented? (throw some media terminology in there, people). 

Representation of immigrants - I am an immigrant campaign

How about this one? Again, not affiliated with a political party but certainly a direct response to the social fear surrounding immigration in the UK perpetuated by parties such as UKIP. This was a crowd funded campaign (showing the ever increasing power of the audience in response to the established media and in this case, the dominant ideologies enforced by the Bourgeoisie (Marxism anyone?) 

see an article explaining it here:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/32284435/pro-immigration-poster-campaign-launches-across-the-uk

Note that the article is from Radio 1 (think about their target demographic and why this might be of interest to them? Or is it further reinforcement of the bourgeoisie - who owns radio 1 and how powerful are they....?

pro immigration poster - crowd funded

UKIP policy poster