The target audience of this magazine is young music fans that have a strong awareness and interest of the current scene. This is suggested by the use of language used, 'secret solo album', 'new Babyshambles album', 'win tickets', all implying that the consumer is not up to date with the latest information and that this publication will change that. The Photograph on the cover features a forlorn looking Pete Doherty, addresing readers directly, staring the audience squarely in the eye, as if almost a fresh bid for forgiveness from his fans from whatever his recent antics have involved. Pete Doherty is well known for his image and his iconic rock and roll danger, it is also well publicised that he is quite the 'sex icon' as well, thus allowing the magazine to push past boundries of mere music followers. Pete is very much portrayed and exploited here for his vulnerablity, as he often appears after a bad spell, to critics launching him as 'the new pete'. Although this particular time, the mise en scene of a cigarette lit in mouth, almost completely discards that image of a sorry saint, to one of a complete contradictory status.The colour theme plays a large part in this issue of NME's cover, it is interesting that the first sell line about the main article of pete doherty features simply, 'no drugs, no police, no kate' each on respective lines, and in bold black font. It could be suggested that each line appeals to a different section of the targeted audience, 'no drugs' possibly aimed at the pure music fans that don't like to tollerate foul play in the music business, 'no police' appeals to members of the pete doherty 'tribe' that follow his every move, as it increases the chance of them catching more glimpse of him live, and finally the 'no kate' line deconstructs to connote to one simple word of 'single', exciting any female fans. 'Pete Doherty' is written in a large red font spreading most of the cover from the left across, connoting to dominance, the red also connotes to danger, perhaps implying that although currently there are no drugs, no police and no kate, it is not going to be long at all until they all come rushing back. The further contrast still appears in the binary opposition of white text on black background, 'Exclusively on the new Babyshambles album', although it literally is about something new, the white can also connote to a fresh slate of music appose to endless media controversy for Pete Doherty and the fact then that it is actually a music magazine so surely the most important factor should be the music itself. This case of Binary opposition is the same indeed with the photograph, Pete Doherty looking to be in a dark place, dressed in black, against the purity and cleanliness of a white background, two things never adorned to Pete's name.
NME's use of language is interesting as it appears they show a softer, filtered attitude towards the expicit content, especially on the front cover of their publication, quote by johnny borell "the cribs are talking bullsh*t", this suggests that they do actually care and acknowledge that they do attract a younger audience in addition to their targeted audience. The cover is absolutely crawling with examples of declaratives including,'crap name. great sound' and 'your 'instant expert' guide', this connotes to confidence of opinion and authority in the sense that people will respect and furthermore follow the nature of everything the NME prints, the fact that such bold honesty appears on the front cover can only reinforce this confidence. This is also apparent in the organisation of dead space and white space, everything is positioned neatly and stylishly around the face of Pete Doherty, the masthead fits tightly into the top left hand corner, whilst spherical sellers float innocently either side of the face.
In conclusion it is clear that NME are using their front cover as an advertisement for the type of article that can be expected once inside the publication, subverting stereotypes and appealing to their target audience this way. The clever use of statements allows consumers to feel in good and trustworthy hands, alongside an extremely tidy layout, a layout which compares greatly to the photograph of an unkept and perhaps slightly unhealthy star. It will be of great merit for me to consider such traits as these when finally going on to produce my own magazine front cover.
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