The Big Issue

Consider the social, cultural, economic, political and historical context of

the Big Issue
What is it
The big issue is a charity/magazine run by homeless people/volunteers that aims to help the homeless through receiving
donations or money from their magazine and using that to help people on the streets get started on their life. For example
on the website, this is what they said what kind of help the charity offers:
Social Context

The social side of the Big Issue is important to them, as its about helping out others and spreading the word to try and get
the public on board. One way they do this is through their Magazine, where they can write about their charity as well as
interviewing big stars like Kit Harrington (John Snow in Game of Thrones). Through this magazine they can preach and reach
out to the public, while only 50% of it goes to the vendor.
Cultural Context

The Big Issue keeps up to date with the latest news and seems to be able to link their media styled magazine and interviews
into their charity. For example, on their website they load the website with related news such as government changes in
housing aspects and changes in letting agency's whilst still making it interesting with other non-related articles like the
interview with Sean Astin (Seen in Lord of the Rings) about the new Stranger Things 2, a highly publicised and popular show
over the last week.
Economic Context

The Big Issue work hard to help as many homeless people as possible by selling their magazines, receiving donations and
taking volunteers to try and reduce the percentage of homeless in the UK as much as possible. They are selling their exclusive
interview with Kit Harrington on this weeks issue at a price of 2.50, and give homeless venders selling the big issue 50% of
whatever they sell. This helps and Rehabilitates the homeless and boosts morale/work ethic within them to get up on their
feet and have a jumpstart on life. They have sold over 200 million copies and over 25 years, vendors have made 115 million
for the company/themselves.
 Political Context

The Big Issue has a big political context in terms of its connections to parliament. John Bird, one of the founders of The Big
Issue, has an MBE title and has a place in the house of lords. This means he has very good connections to the government
and does have a respected say in his area of interest in this case housing and homelessness. This means the company can
be very connected through parliament and keeps up to date with changes and has a say to them.
Historical Context

The Big Issue was inspired by a similar brand Street News, using the same concept of having homeless people sell a media
article to help fund their life. It was founded by John Bird and Gordon Roddick as they saw the increasing numbers of
homeless people in the UK. It was very popular during the early 2000s, selling almost 300,000 in 2001. However, during
2007-2011, the magazine saw a decrease of sales, going from selling 167,000 copies to around 125,000. They saw this as a
need for change, and relaunched their magazine in 2012, still aiming to help the homeless but changing their focus to
political campaigns and journalism. It still runs to this day, and CEO John Bird has stated in an interview that the sales are
starting to go back up, which could mean an even more positive future for the company, and for the homeless in the UK.
John Bird

John Bird was born to a poor London Irish family, becoming homeless at the age of 5 and staying resident in an orphanage
from the age of 7 till he was ten. He became a forced criminal, stealing to help him survive until he could find a way out and
get a job. Because of this, he has seen prison time, where he learned to read and write whilst locked up. Because of this John
Bird had an insight by the 90s to try and make a change to the UK and set up The Big Issue (launching in 1991), where he
could try his best to try and reduce homelessness rates whilst making it for himself. The charity grew and grew, and
eventually got so big that he gained his MBE title and became a member in the House of Lords.
 The economic and political context of
homelessness in the UK
The UK has been seeing an uprising in homelessness over the last decade, but there has not been any official statistic or
figure for the actual amount currently without shelter living in the country. Many news/media organisations have attempted
to spread the awareness of this through different ways. One of the ways is how Sky news did it, interviewing a homeless man
without showing his face whilst showing a dark context of the reality of living on the streets. This spreads the awareness to
the audience by showing them the harshness and statistics of homelessness, for example telling the audience You are 13
times more prone to violence living on the streets. Another news station, Al Jazeera, reported it in a different way. They
showed a building owned by the council that shelters family's and disabled people without a home with the promise of
relocation, but interviews by the news company presented to the audience that the people currently residing in that building
have been waiting a long time for the relocation, living in their cramped rooms. One person even said they wish not for their
face to be shown on camera as they dont want relatives to see the state she was living in. She then goes on to explain how
the council has pushed these people in need out of London to concentrate the rich living in central London. This way of
presenting the need of people between houses is getting the audience to empathise and have a sense of guilt as they watch
these people in need of help forced into rough and cramped flats whilst the property prises in London still increase past the
point that only people with wealth can afford. Additionally, BBC News Beat presents the awareness of homelessness by using
a past victim of an abusive relationship that was forced on to the streets and getting her to tell her story to the audience. The
girl had been forced onto the streets after her partner started becoming abusive and she had nowhere to go, which then
unfolds to her contacting the authorities, only for them to turn her away. The aim of this clip by the BBC is to spread the
awareness of homelessness through information and empathy. The audience wants to empathise with her after hearing she
went to the council homeless and came out as she came in. This shows that the government is not doing enough to fight
homelessness and take people off the streets and living a decent life.
Links:
Al Jazeera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50iTvoGMv8I
Sky News: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCfcd0kNbXI
BBC News Beat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2cDZ_h6YrA
Audience demographics & profiling

Audience profiling means that a company selling a product will looks at statistics/demographics to choose an appropriate
target audience to maximise sales and profits. For example, HEAT, a magazine company that targets women has chosen to
target the audience by looking at the demographics and purpose of the magazine. For example, in the video linked below, it
shows some of HEATS statistics, talking about how the company has a sex divide of 86% female and 14% male. This would
indicate to the company once they discovered it that the next release of their magazine should target more females and less
males. However this could be argued by the fact that they have such a small male audience, maybe in the next magazine they
should try and target males a bit more whilst keeping female sales. Another statistic Heat has is that the average age of their
sales in 30 years old. This would indicate to them that they should research what 30 year olds face in day to day life and what
they find interesting and implement it into their next released magazine to target that audience.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZUUjq4ZEfY
Who is the audience in The Big Issue

Shown on their website under the advertising tab, the site states that 72% of readers are A, B and C1 in the social rankings.
This means that the majority of readers are from medium to highest class due to their wealth and employment. Furthermore
it also states that 43% of readers are A and B, meaning there is a very high amount of upper class people reading the
magazine, illustrating the fact that it has been seen and people high in the social rankings do want to help.
In this cover of the big issue, the front page shows a picture of Andy Murray saying I
can win it referring to Wimbledon. It came out a few weeks before his defeat in the
semi-final Vs Andy Roddick.
On this cover, it shows Benedict Cumberbatch, a well known British star formerly
known back then for his performance in Sherlock. Sherlock has been a big part of
British culture and fans were well into the 4th season come the start of 2017. This
was iconic as the season was released at the beginning of the year and so a lot of
build up could be generated from interviews and advertisements from magazines,
especially as the new year means the holidays.
This cover of the Big Issue is iconic to Britain as it contains an old sketch of
Shakespeare with a 450 today badge on, implying the magazine was released the
day/near his birthday (23rd April). This is iconic as Shakespeare was a well known
writer back in the 1500s and a well respected person of the country for his plays. It
also shows that the comedy TV series The Simpsons is back, a well known show that
has a place in most TV lovers hearts.
Intertextuality notes

- Seen in a day to day life (Seen in books, music, radio, TV, film etc.)
- Means creating one text reference to another etc. linking real outside events/things. An example of this is scary movie
basically ripping off many horror movies and turning it into something comedic.
- The term was created by Julia Kristeva in Semiotike (1969).
- Is much more than just linking things, usually has a hidden meaning by the directors.
- Scary movie intertextual links:
- Matrix
- Sixth Sense
- Psycho
- American Pie
This cover is intertextual. This means that some of the content within this cover is its
own but is linked to something outside that is still relevant. For example, The Big Issue
in this editions front cover features content such as ABBA linked in with different
members of political parties and the prime minister at the time (David Cameron).
Additionally, the title puts the sweet spot on the referencing - The Winner Takes It All
A well known song and lyric from the band, tied into the election. Furthermore the
editor also adds in lyrics of Abbas songs in a speech bubble whilst still referencing the
election/politicians, for example, David Cameron has speech bubble coming from him
saying Knowing me, knowing EU. This is an actual lyric but modified to fit the purpose
of the cover an Abba themed talk on politics.