General understanding:
Launched in 1991 by John Bird and Gordon Roddick, with an aim to transform the lives of London’s homeless by giving them a job - enabling them to earn an income.
Vendors who tend to be male and are aged 18-46 buy the magazine for £1.25 and sell to the public for £2.50 throughout the streets of London.
The Big Issue is a niche magazine meaning it is specific and outside of the mainstream. The magazine is an example of 'ethical capitalism' meaning that the benefits are real and long lasting for the future.
Ethos is the magazine is 'a hand up not a hand out' meaning that selling the magazine helps the community and makes a difference to someones life.
It has become the worlds most widely circulated street newspaper! Has now been globally published in countries such as Australia, Japan and South Korea.
The magazine belongs to the hybrid genre, offering entertainment and social business (associated with working for the benefit of people e.g. healthcare and education).
1995 The Big Issue foundation was launched - a charity which helped the homeless with information, advice, guidance and support.
2001 was the peak year for the magazine, it sold 300,000 copies! Sales began to decline after that but, in 2012 they did a re - launch which improved circulation figures.
Target audience are ABC1 and Uni educated and eager to make a difference in society. A Big Issue consumer will likely be a left wing supporter and a reader of The Guardian newspaper, there is no specific gender specified from research.
2,000 vendors in Britain,
100,000 copies sold in Britain each week,
2013 vendors made £5 million +,
100 people approach The Big Issue every week
- Masthead, the title of a magazine.
- Plug, a feature that will appear inside.
- Puff, a story given prominence on the front cover.
- Cover star, the people featured on the cover.
- Anchorage text, text that gives the main image meaning.
- Banner, text that runs across the bottom.
- Skyline, text that runs across the top.
