Soap Opera Poster Analysis (One)

The target audience for this poster will be youths who fall under the Stanley Hall theory because its what Channel 4 predicted for this soap. The stereotype for this target audience for this soap will be moody, rebellious (involved in criminal activity between the ages 12 and 24) and are curious about sex, drugs or alcohol. I will now analyse this poster of Hollyoaks to check if this soap will attract the target audience enough in terms of encouraging them to watch the soap on Channel 4.

In terms of graphology, this image is red, orange, white and black in terms of colour, this could encourage people to watch this soap opera because the colours may connote that within this period there will be plenty of dramatic action taking place in the storyline, overall this would attract the target audience who fall under the Stanley Hall theory as the colours could represent emotions like anger, depression and etc.

In terms of images, the main characters are all on fire, this could connote that there is going to be some dramatic twist in the storyline involving these five characters as the main roles. These star vehicles will attract the target audience who fall under the Stanley Hall theory because the main characters in this poster are adolescences and the flames could represent their wild life style.

Also in terms of images the girls portrayed in this poster are all wearing make up and have stylish hair with quite fetish looks upon their face, therefore they would fall under the Laura Mulvey (1975) because this will attract male audiences who view these woman as erotic objects; especially as this soap is aimed at adolescences. 

On the right hand side of the poster, is the logo for the channel that the soap opera is aired upon, Channel 4. This will be useful for the target audience because if they are interested in the poster they have seen then they will know where to tune in for more; this will fall under the Blumer and Katz (1974) theory because they state people watch programmes/soaps and such for their own interests out of one of these categories: Entertainment, personal identity, diversion and etc.

In terms of Lexis there is black curvy font that states “A week that will change Hollyoaks forever.” This declarative sentence will attract the target audience who fall under the Blumer and Katz (1974) theory because its telling the target audience (young adolescences) who are familiar with this show that something dramatic is going to happen and its convincing enough to sound like the new storyline shouldn’t be missed.

Also in terms of Lexis it states “Starts Fri 5^th Nov.” This is key information for those who are interested and fans of this soap opera because it falls under the Blumer and Katz theory for those people who are looking at the poster for further information when and where to watch this.

The typography is surrounded by a white opaque box, this will be useful to help attract their target audience because the white box stands out from the background and be one of the first things they notice about this poster. Therefore this will be suitable for those who fall under the Blumer and Katz theory.

Overall this whole poster shows that it is suitable to attract the target audience in terms of encouraging them to view this soap as it has many of the predicted theories from Stanley Hall. This poster also contains other theorists to represent their target audience: Laura mulvey, Blumer and Katz.