OSP: Marcus Rashford CSP

OSP: Marcus Rashford CSP

Language:

1) Website conventions: 

a. Logo/brand identity - he includes his signature and a very modern and simplistic logo. These demonstrate his website's inclusion with newer environments and push towards modernisation. Additionally, it may also link to his target audience. 

b. Navigation/menus - this is also quite simple, with links to his books and achievements. It links to his brand identity, and also reinforces a personal relationship with his audience. His audience may gain information about him, which links to surveillance from Blumer + Katz. 

c. The central images often depict him to represent his brand, achievements and his beliefs. There are images of his partnerships, such as Burberry and Nike, which reinforce his presence, including that of an icon and key feature of societal representations. 

d. Marcus Rashford's social media links include his logo, which further reinforce his brand identity. They are used to include personal relationships with his audience, and a personal identity which his audience can relate to and gain knowledge from.

Social media conventions:

a. Brand identity/logo: Marcus Rashford's social media includes his logo to reinforce authenticity, and to create a personal relationship with his audience. Additionally, it also represents his brand, and is used to effectively demonstrate and reinforce this.

b. Bio (personal details): he includes details of his brands, his contact and his achievements. These demonstrate the pride he has for his career and what he has accomplished throughout his life.

c. Profile image: this is an image of his logo, which links to his website and creates a brand for Marcus Rashford. 

 

2) His website includes details of his achievements, and aspects of his career that have been mentioned. These aptly demonstrate the pride he has for his accomplishments, as well as the brands he has sponsored and been linked to. Additionally, there are not just aspects of his career but also his personal life, as well as work he has done in order to support his community. These demonstrate his own beliefs and the work he advocates for.

3) There are social media links as clear connotations of being a part of the wider community, which includes helping those in need. Additionally, he shows pride in his achievements, as the central images include images of him representing his national and premier league teams. The navigation bar or menu is very simplistic, as is Rashford's logo, which demonstrate his being more modern and involved in more recent events.

4) Marcus Rashford uses his social media profiles to promote his brand and campaigns by including links (integrating) to brands he was involved in, such as FareShare and Nike. Additionally, there is an image of him promoting his partnership with Burberry, as he wears a scarf from this brand. 

5) Due to his own complications as a child, Rashford projects his beliefs by working to provide food to children and volunteer to give many people meals during holidays if they do not have enough to eat. His experience as a child has meant that his values on helping people have become clear within his work to help other people in need, who may have experienced a similar upbringing to the one he had as a child.

Representations:

1) Mise-en-scène: In some aspects, he is dressed more professionally and formally in order to create an image of himself as a very strong-willed and well-known person. However, in others, he is dressed in colours of his football club and his national team, or else in the team kit, to demonstrate the pride he has for his career and how far he has come. These aspects of costume bring to light the different parts of his life and include a diversity of his skills and abilities. 

2) There is a reinforcement of typical standards of footballers through the way Rashford presents himself to the public. He creates an image of a professional and confident person who works hard to be the person that he is. However, he also subverts stereotypes because he is not exclusively involved in football; he takes part in volunteer work and also aims to help children through his books. These subvert stereotypes because he works in other areas that are not primarily based around football, which, as a result, reveals other work that he puts into his community and the ones around him.

3) The website features images of Rashford working with FareShare through his volunteer work to allow children to have access to proper meals. This can be seen on the FareShare campaign website; there are pictures of him working in a warehouse. This creates a positive representation of himself as he is presented as someone who helps out and actually cares about everything he does.

4) Rashford frequently reinforces gender stereotypes because he appears as someone who is confident and powerful. Men are frequently expected to appear in this way, so he appeals to this traditional stereotype. However, Rashford is also fearless, unafraid to be vulnerable and finds strength in emotion. Because men are expected to be quite strong, Rashford's vulnerability is something that intensely subverts gender stereotypes.

5) Rashford is from an ethnic minority, but he subverts stereotypes of this by being quite vocal and fearless. While other people may expect people of colour to not be as strong in challenging experiences or speaking about ones they identify with strongly. Therefore, these stereotypes are strongly subverted.

Audience:

1) Rashford's target audience may contain mostly younger people, as that is who his books are aimed towards, and he also has campaigned specifically towards these audiences. Additionally, as he is a male footballer, it can be said that the majority of his target audience would consist of younger males. In terms of psychographics, the succeeders and aspirers could be key groups that Marcus Rashford would target. As he has a wide distribution and is relevant, he is shown to be someone who has made a lot of progress. Therefore, his audience may also consist of people who want to be like him and follow his path of success.

2) Marcus Rashford would use social media to engage with his target audience by promoting brands. Additionally, he would post about books he releases, and partnerships he would be involved in. These would all reach a target audience of younger adults, teenagers and younger children as well. These would reach his target audience because they would feel a sense of identity through Rashford's works, and also build a personal relationship through his social media.

3) His engagement rate is six per cent, which tells us that his followers interact with his posts a lot. It is higher than most creators and influencers, therefore communicating the personal relationships that his followers have built through Rashford's social media identity. They may be able to relate strongly with aspects of his life on social media and therefore engage with his posts.

4) 

a) This is a particularly powerful statement because it demonstrates the pride that Rashford has for his identity and his strength as a resilient person. It is evident that he is particularly powerful through these words, which may appeal quite strongly to other people who have gone through similar experiences, therefore building a personal identity with Marcus Rashford.

b) This demonstrates the personal side of Rashford's life, demonstrating his close connection to his family and his ability to exist outside of just his work. Additionally, it may make him seem relatable to his fans and therefore create a sense of personal identity for them.

c) This links to his strength and perseverance within his career, but also his gratitude to his fans and those who support him.

5) His followers and fans may create a personal identity through Rashford's online presence because of his own involvement with more personal aspects of society. Additionally, they can build a personal relationship with him because of his life not just in his career but also in other aspects, such as his books, activism and overall development of character.

6) Preferred reading: Rashford is involved in many different aspects of society, is strong-willed and open-minded, and works hard to fulfill the things he is passionate about. This demonstrates his integrity of character, his kindness as a human being and the care he puts in towards aspects of society he is involved in changing and improving.

Oppositional reading: it might be said that Rashford does not put in a high level of passion into his football career, or focuses not intensely enough on certain things he claims to work hard for.

Industry:

1) Marcus Rashford's net worth is £65 million, and his online presence helps to make him money because he is constantly sponsoring products and doing brand deals, as well as proving him with a way to make money across wider levels of distribution.

2) Rashford works with FareShare, helping people with less access to food to have it. He also plays for Manchester United and for the English national football team.

3) Twitter (X) and Instagram are social media platforms, both used widely by a large number of people. Twitter is owned by Elon Musk and Instagram is owned by Meta (a large conglomerate, previously Facebook, owned by Mark Zuckerberg). Twitter makes money through advertising. In 2022, advertising revenue accounted for 90% of the company's total revenue. Twitter offers a variety of advertising products, including promoted tweets. These are tweets that advertisers pay to have appear at the top of users' timelines or in search results. Instagram makes money by offering advertising opportunities to marketers using the platform. According to research, approximately 90% of online shoppers follow companies and brands.

4) Studies have linked Instagram to depression, body image concerns, self-esteem issues, and social anxiety.

5) They do not manage it very well, which can change if there is more of a focus on hate-based violence and preventing it from becoming even more widespread than it already is.

6) The Online Safety Bill marks a milestone in the fight for a new digital age which is safer for users and holds tech giants to account. It will protect children from harmful content such as pornography and limit people’s exposure to illegal content, while protecting freedom of speech.It will require social media platforms, search engines and other apps and websites allowing people to post their own content to protect children, tackle illegal activity and uphold their stated terms and conditions. Furthermore, the regulator Ofcom will have the power to fine companies failing to comply with the laws up to ten per cent of their annual global turnover, force them to improve their practices and block non-compliant sites. Also, the government is announcing that executives whose companies fail to cooperate with Ofcom’s information requests could now face prosecution or jail time within two months of the Bill becoming law, instead of two years as it was previously drafted.