OSP: Rashford & Kardashian - Audience and Industry

The second part of our OSP CSP work is on the Audience and Industry contexts for Marcus Rashford and Kim Kardashian.

This will focus more on how technology, the internet and social media have changed society and culture for audiences and industries. 

Audience

Target audience: demographics and psychographics

What is the target audience for two CSPs? 

• Demographics: CAGE? 
• Psychographics? 

Audience engagement

Instagram engagement rate is a measure of how much audiences engage with posts (e.g. likes, comments). An engagement rate of 1-3% is considered good and anything 6%+ is extremely high.

Marcus Rashford’s power as an influencer is shown by his engagement rate of 6% (although recently this has dropped to 3.2% due to increasing his follower count and focusing more on football rather than his brand development).

Source: https://starngage.com/app/gb/influencers/marcusrashford

Kim Kardashian's engagement rate is lower at 0.33% but she has over 350 million followers so can still reach and engage with huge audiences.

Celebrity influences: appeal to audiences

What is the appeal of Marcus Rashford and Kim Kardashian to audiences? Think about their campaigns, use of social media and brand associations. Also, consider their appeal to different audiences.

Use Blumler and Katz Uses and Gratifications theory:

• Diversion
• Personal Identity
• Personal Relationships
• Surveillance/information

Industries

Marcus Rashford net worth

Marcus Rashford’s net worth has been estimated at around £16m (source: Sunday Times rich list). This includes:

• £300,000 per week from Manchester United (£15.6m a year)
• £2m endorsement deal with Nike
• Additional deals with Burberry, Jaguar Land Rover, Coca-Cola and others

He is also the youngest person to top the Sunday Times Giving List for raising £20m for good causes.

Kim Kardashian net worth

Kim Kardashian’s net worth has been estimated at $1.7 BILLION. This is from:

• The Kardashians TV show on Hulu is a $100m deal
• Her brands SKIMS, KKW Beauty and many more

Celebrity commercial partners & products

Watch the following videos of Marcus Rashford and Kim Kardashian to get an understanding of their brands and commercial partners.

• What do the companies get from an association with Rashford or Kardashian?
• Thinking about media language, how do these adverts create an emotional connection between the brand and audience? 
• How do the clips help Rashford or Kardashian control or build their own brand?

Marcus Rashford: Black History Month

Marcus Rashford: Nike - New Normal

Marcus Rashford: Coca-Cola

Kim Kardashian: Meat alternative

Kim Kardashian Hollywood mobile game

Industries: ownership, control and regulation

Marcus Rashford and Kim Kardashian’s online presence is partly driven by their excellent use of social media.

But who owns Twitter/X? Who owns Instagram? How much money do they make? How are they regulated?

These are key questions for GCSE Media students.

Twitter/X

• Twitter was started by Jack Dorsey in 2006. It has over 500 million active users worldwide. 
• Twitter’s revenue is around $3 billion. 
• Twitter makes most of its money through advertising – promoted tweets or ‘trend takeovers’.
• Marcus Rashford has 7m X followers, Kim Kardashian 75m. 
• In 2022 Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 BILLION and has since added controversial new features and renamed it X.

Instagram

• Instagram is an image and video sharing site launched in 2010. 
• In 2012 it was bought by Facebook for $1 billion. Facebook and Instagram’s parent company is now called Meta – a global conglomerate.
• Instagram has over a billion active users worldwide and more than 25 million users in the UK alone.
• Instagram revenue in 2023 was $61 BILLION.
• Marcus Rashford has over 17m Instagram followers, Kim Kardashian 350m.

Instagram: a danger to teenagers?

• Over 40% of Instagram users are aged under 23.
• Research suggests that Instagram is damaging to mental health – particularly for teenage girls.
• Facebook’s own research suggested this – but they allegedly kept this secret.
• The research suggested one in three girls felt bad about their bodies and Instagram made this worse. It is also linked to increased anxiety and depression.

Media regulation: how do you regulate the internet and social media?

The government is introducing the Online Safety bill to try and add regulation of the internet to Ofcom’s role as media regulator. This includes:

• Sending threatening posts being punishable by jail sentences.
• Platforms like X and Instagram having to actively prevent users seeing harmful material – or risk being fined by Ofcom.
• Platforms paying Ofcom to regulate their content.

Critics of the law have suggested social media is impossible to regulate – there is too much content – or users’ freedom of speech will be compromised.

Internet regulation: key questions

The internet is very difficult to regulate because it is global but governments are national. Also, corporations like Amazon or Facebook are now more powerful than some governments.

Media theorist Clay Shirky describes the change with digital media as going from: “Filter then publish to publish then filter”. 

Anyone can publish almost anything instantly and the audience then has to filter the content they engage with.

Here's Clay Shirky talking about how the internet is changing communication - watch the first three minutes:

Finally, here is Marcus Rashford talking to Sky Sports News about what should be done about online abuse: 

OSP: Audience and Industries blog tasks

Work through the following tasks to complete our OSP work:

Audience

1) Who are the potential target audiences for Marcus Rashford and Kim Kardashian's online content? Try and cover both demographics and psychographics.

2) Marcus Rashford’s online presence is partly driven by his excellent use of social media. How does he use social media to engage with his fans and make them feel part of his brand?

3) What is Instagram engagement rate and what engagement rates do Marcus Rashford and Kim Kardashian have? 

4) Go to Marcus Rashford and Kim Kardashian's X or Instagram account. Find and screenshot/link three posts that show the different aspects of their brand e.g. Relatable person (normal, down to earth), Campaigner (interested in politics), Celebrity (e.g. awards ceremony or fashion), Brand promotion (e.g. selling a product).

5) What audience pleasures are provided by Marcus Rashford's online presence? What about Kim Kardashian? Try and apply Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory here. 

6) Applying Stuart Hall's Reception theory, what would a preferred and oppositional reading of Marcus Rashford and Kim Kardashian's online presence be?

• Preferred reading (people who support Rashford/Kardashian): 
• Oppositional reading (people who criticise Rashford/Kardashian): 

Industries

1) What is Marcus Rashford and Kim Kardashian's net worth and how does their online presence help them to make money? 

2) What companies/brands are Rashford and Kardashian associated with? Why might they want to be linked to those celebrities?

3) Research Twitter/X and Instagram. Who owns the companies, how do they make money and how much profit did they make last year?

4) What are the worries about Instagram’s negative effects?

5) How do social media platforms manage online abuse on their platforms and why has Marcus Rashford drawn attention to this? How might this change in the future?

6) What happened by law in 2022 that changed the way the internet is regulated? Write three changes that this new law may bring in and explain why it is difficult to regulate the internet.

Due date: on Google Classroom

Grade 8/9 extension tasks

Look at this Marcus Rashford tweet. How does this help Rashford create a positive representation of himself and also control the media narrative?

Read this Guardian feature on Marcus Rashford being a Hero of 2020. What representation of Rashford does this offer?

Read this Guardian Books interview with Marcus Rashford. How does Rashford's work on reading and literacy help his reputation? Can you find any other interesting representations here?

Read this news story on Rashford being named one of the top ten most powerful black Britons. What does this suggest about race and ethnicity in Britain and the British media?

How does Marcus Rashford's online presence reflect modern society and culture?

Read this Sky Sports interview with Marcus Rashford saying online abuse should be easier to stop. What does he think the companies should be doing to regulate it?

If you want to test yourself at A Level or even degree level, try reading this chapter from A Level Media theorist Clay Shirky called Publish, Then Filter. How does Shirky suggest the internet has changed the way we engage with the media?

December mock exam: revision and preparation

Your December mock exam is a great opportunity to practice a full 90-minute exam and revise some of the CSPs we have studied so far. 

Your December exam will be one full Paper 2 (Television and Online, Social and Participatory Media). Below is a full guide to what you need to revise for each section of the exam.   

Know your exam

One of the most important aspects of preparing for examinations is knowing exactly what topics could come up and where. For your December exam, this is what will come up:

December mock exam - Wednesday 18 December

Section A: Television

• Short extract from either Doctor Who – An Unearthly Child (1963) or His Dark Materials – The City of Magpies (2020).
• The extract will be shown twice and you can make notes. There will then be three questions on the extract (2 marks, 8 marks, 12 marks).
• The final question is a 20-mark essay on BOTH of your TV Close-Study Products.
• The TV index with links to all original blogposts is here.

Section B: Online, Social and Participatory Media

• Short 2-mark question on media terminology.
• Two 20-mark essays on Online, Social and Participatory Media - celebrities/influencers Marcus Rashford and Kim Kardashian. 
• This is what we're studying now and these posts can be found on the main Year 2 Media blog. For example, OSP Language and Representation is here.

Your real Paper 2 in the summer may have questions on Newspapers in Section B. However, these will not appear in your December mock exam as we have not studied the topic yet.

How to revise

Revision is a very personal thing and everyone has different techniques. Personally, I strongly recommend using flash cards (they are often called record cards if you are trying to buy them online or in WHSmiths). The simple act of distilling topics into a few key words or phrases to put on the card will seriously help in remembering the key information in the final exams. I have spare flash cards in DF07 if you'd like some. Media students in the past have created three sets of revision cards:

• Media terminology
• Media theory
• CSPs

The two topics you need to focus on particularly in December are:

• Television
• OSP - Influencers, Rashford and Kardashian

Good luck with your revision and give this mock exam your best shot!

Due date on Google Classroom

OSP: Rashford & Kardashian - Language and Representation

Our OSP CSPs are the online presence of Manchester Utd and England footballer Marcus Rashford and celebrity influencer Kim Kardashian.

This is an in-depth CSP so we need to study all four areas of the theoretical framework: Language, Representation, Audience and Industry. This first case study will focus on Language and Representation.

Marcus Rashford

Marcus Rashford is a Manchester Utd and England footballer who has used social media and the internet to create a strong brand. He has been praised for his high-profile campaigns on food poverty (putting pressure on the government to provide free school meals in holidays during Covid-19) as well as homelessness and books for children. 

We need to study his website, social media and how he has created his Marcus Rashford brand. 

Kim Kardashian

Kim Kardashian is one of the most successful social media influencers of all time. She uses her social media presence to promote herself and her brands to her 350 million followers. Kardashian is highly sought after as a brand ambassador and is paid millions of dollars by companies to promote their products.

With Kim Kardashian, we need to study the influence of celebrities and how she has managed to build a billion dollar empire using social media and celebrity.

Language analysis

GLOW glossary words

Convergence: When two or more media forms can be accessed in one place or one device e.g Marcus Rashford’s website also links to his books, social media feeds and video content. 

Online engagement/dialogue: Communication online e.g between a celebrity and a fan. 

Endorsement: When a celebrity or influential figure recommends something to the public. 

Website conventions

Website key conventions include:

• Logo/brand identity
• Navigation – menus
• Central image
• Multimedia features – e.g. video 
• Social media links / integration

Social media conventions

Social media key conventions include:

• Logo/brand identity
• Bio (personal details/information)
• Profile image
• Background/banner image
• Images and video
• Online engagement/audience interaction

Media Language: Genre and narrative

Marcus Rashford has created a strong personal brand that merges different genres – footballer, campaigner / activist, influencer, celebrity.

His online presence emphasises his working class background and how hard his mum worked as a single parent. This creates a narrative of success against the odds. He then uses this to drive his campaigning work on food poverty and reading.

Kardashian, in contrast, is far more focused on fashion, wealth and celebrity. She herself said she wanted to be famous more than anything.

Marcus Rashford story:

MOTD Mural:

Real reason behind Kim Kardashian's fame:

Representations

Marcus Rashford’s online presence offers a real mix of representations – some reinforcing stereotypes of masculinity, footballers and race/ethnicity but others subverting them. He also looks to challenge stereotypes regarding poverty, benefits and social class.

Kim Kardashian could be viewed as an empowering businesswoman – building a billion dollar empire. But she also reinforces negative stereotypes regarding female appearance and the importance of celebrity.

Use Daniel Chandler’s representation theory of CAGE to analyse representations in the media. Here's an example for Marcus Rashford’s online presence:

• C – Class (social class – working class people)
• A – Age (youth)
• G – Gender (masculinity)
• E – Ethnicity (black British)

OSP: Language and Representation blog tasks

Work through the following tasks to cover the Language and Representation key concepts for our OSP CSPs:

Language

1) Make two lists - one of website conventions used on Marcus Rashford and Kim Kardashian's official website and one of social media conventions found on their Instagram pages. 

2) How does Marcus Rashford's website and social media promote his brand? Give at least three examples of different pages / posts / images from his website or social media. 

3) How does Kim Kardashian's website and social media promote her brand? Give at least three examples of different pages / posts / images from her brand websites or social media. 

4) How does Marcus Rashford's online presence use the narrative of his childhood upbringing to create a positive brand identity?

5) How does Kim Kardashian's website and social media promote other media products or websites using the Kardashian brand (e.g. Keeping Up With The Kardashians TV show)? 

Representations

1) How does Marcus Rashford use different aspects of mise-en-scene (e.g. clothes/costume/ settings/locations) to create representations of himself on his website and social media? 

2) What examples can you find of website pages, social media posts or aspects of his brand that create a positive representation of Marcus Rashford? You may wish to comment on his discussion of family or his campaigns - his page on the FareShare campaign website may help with this question.

3) How does Marcus Rashford's online presence challenge stereotypes? Think about gender (masculinity), race/ethnicity, social class or football here. 

4)  What representation of celebrity is created by Kim Kardashian's website and social media? How are audience encouraged to view celebrity? 

5) What gender stereotypes are reinforced or challenged in Kim Kardashian's online presence? 

Due date: on Google Classroom

Grade 8/9 extension tasks

Look at this Marcus Rashford tweet. How does this help Rashford create a positive representation of himself and also control the media narrative?

Read this Guardian feature on Marcus Rashford being a Hero of 2020. What representation of Rashford does this offer?

Read this Guardian Books interview with Marcus Rashford. How does Rashford's work on reading and literacy help his reputation? Can you find any other interesting representations here?

Read this news story on Rashford being named one of the top ten most powerful black Britons. What does this suggest about race and ethnicity in Britain and the British media?

How do Marcus Rashford and Kim Kardashian's online presence reflect modern society and culture?

Coursework: draft deadline

The draft deadline for your Media coursework is approaching.

This is 30% of your overall GCSE so it's a brilliant opportunity to get a load of marks in the bank before taking on the exams in the summer. Your draft deadline is: 

Deadline: week commencing Monday 9 December

Your Media teacher will confirm the exact lesson date for your deadline.

On the deadline day, you need to submit one of the following:

Two exported MP4 video files for your two health drink TV adverts

or

Three PDF files for your three health drink print adverts

These need to be in your folder in the student area of Media Shared.

You may also want to submit an updated Statement of Intent for re-marking. 

Your draft production work will be marked and given feedback. You will then get a chance to re-edit or re-draft your coursework before the final deadline.

Good luck!

OSP: Introduction to influencers

Our new topic is Online, Social and Participatory Media - or OSP for short.

There are two CSPs to study here but we'll be looking at them alongside each other - Marcus Rashford and Kim Kardashian's social media and online presence. This is an in-depth CSP and needs to be studied with reference to all four elements of the Theoretical Framework (Language, Representation, Industries, Audience) and all relevant contexts. 

But before we study these two celebrities in detail, we need to look at the rise of social media influencers and the impact this has had on media, society and culture.

The rise of influencers

The rise of influencers is a major change in media and culture due to technology, the internet and social media. Influencers give brands a new and powerful way to reach audiences but critics think that social media stars are taking advantage of their relationship with their followers.

User-generated content

Influencers exist because of changes in technology and the internet. This created social media sites like YouTube and Facebook and led to the rise in user-generated content.

User-generated content (UGC) is any content—text, videos, images, reviews, etc.—created by people, rather than brands.

UGC means audiences can be producers as well as consumers – we create and share media as well as viewing it.

How do influencers make money?

Kim Kardashian is worth an estimated $1.7 BILLION which shows how much money influencers can make.

It is estimated that Kardashian can make anywhere from $500,000 to $2 million for each promoted Instagram post. She has also endorsed and promoted 57 brands which range from one-off posts to long-term contracts.

Influencers and their impact on media and culture

Are influencers having a positive or negative impact on society, media and culture? You need to be able to form your own opinion on this question. To help you, watch the following video from the BBC on how influencers make money and see if it changes your views:

Here's the extended 28-minute Panorama if you'd like to see more:

Extension - Bad Influencer: Belle Gibson & The Great Insta Con

The danger with user-generated content is whether we can trust what we see on social media. Belle Gibson was one of the first lifestyle influencers but ended up in a controversy over faking cancer diagnoses to promote her posts. This is a preview of a BBC3 documentary on Belle Gibson and the Great Insta Con:

Introduction to OSP: Influencers blog tasks

Read this article in The Week magazine on the rise of social media influencers and answer the following questions:  

1) What years did YouTube, Twitter and Instagram launch?

2) What is the definition of an influencer?

3) Give an example of an influencer and how many followers they have. Try and add some additional information, brand associations or other statistics if you can.

4) How big is the influencer industry according to the article?

5) What are the problems associated with being an influencer?

6) Why is it suggested that audiences actually like being sold products by influencers?

7) What representation of beauty is often found on Instagram or other influencer sites?

8) What is YOUR opinion on influencers? Are they a positive or negative influence on our society and culture? Why?

Grade 8/9 extension tasks

Read this Forbes article on how covid and TikTok have changed the influencer market in the last couple of years. What does this tell us about society and media culture - are we becoming more creative and independent or is this just another way to sell more products to more people? 

Complete this for homework if you don't finish it in the lesson - due date on Google Classroom.

Coursework: Statement of Intent

The first 10 marks of our coursework are for a written Statement of Intent.

This is simply a Word or Google Document in which we write what we are planning to make for our coursework. Your completed summer project will give you most of the information you need for this - particularly the planning section - but you may have changed or developed your idea since the summer. Your preliminary exercise learner response may also help you consider what you plan to create for your real coursework production.

Our coursework brief for 2025 can be found here - remember you need to choose either video or print adverts.

The Statement of Intent word count is 300 words - you can go slightly above this if you want to but you need to keep it close to 300.

This Statement of Intent guidance will help you if you're not sure what to write - you'll need your Greenford Google login to access it. The most important thing is that you cover media language, representations and the target audience in your Statement of Intent.

Another tip is that you can use subheadings and bullet points in your Statement of Intent - it doesn't need to all be in paragraphs. In fact, bullet points are very useful for keeping the word count down. 

Finally, here is an example statement of intent from a previous year - note this was a different brief but the layout and use of media terminology and theory may help you. 

Here's the Statement of Intent mark scheme: 

Statement of Intent: task

1) Write your Statement of Intent on a Word or Google Doc - word count 300 words. Use this Statement of Intent guidance document to help you.

Submit your Statement of Intent to your teacher by emailing them the Word or Google Document. 

Due date: on Google Classroom

Preliminary exercise feedback and learner response

The preliminary exercise is a brilliant opportunity to learn the basics of filmmaking before creating your actual coursework project.

You now need to create a blogpost called 'Preliminary exercise learner response' and complete the following tasks as your feedback and learner response:

1) Type up your teacher's feedback in full. If you've received your feedback via email, you can simply cut and paste it from the email into your blog.

2) Using a combination of your own reflection on the preliminary exercise and the feedback you were given, write two WWW bullet points (What Went Well) and two EBI bullet points (Even Better If) for your preliminary exercise. 

3) What have you learned from the preliminary exercise that will help you in the actual coursework project? List three things you have learned or will do differently as a result of this exercise. You may want to comment on organisation, actors, filming, editing or something else entirely but be specific.

4) Complete any learner response tasks or questions from your teacher. 

Deadline on Google Classroom.