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Writer's pictureNick Saward

Representations of Brexit in the media


The front page of the Daily Mirror is a constructed representation that aims to persuade the audience reading that Britain should remain in the EU. This is made clear through the use of the metaphor of leaping into the unknown. This would bring the element of hesitation for the reader as the image is mysterious, threatening and something that would want to be avoided. The Daily Mirror therefore is using fear as a way to motivate the audience to achieve their agenda and fulfil their ideologies. Furthermore, the typography uses capitals in 'REMAIN' and also imperatives to make their position clear.



In contrast to the Daily Mirror front page, this UKIP advert/poster contains opposite ideologies and expresses these values through the use of stereotypes. The aim of this advert is to convince the audience to vote to leave the EU and to do this, they play on the readers already existing fears of immigration. Firstly, the advert immediately grabs our attention with the bold headline ‘breaking point’. This is in a red colour which possibly represents danger and alert, creating a sense of

warning and panic when it comes to making the decision of leaving or remaining. Furthermore, the image on the poster overwhelmingly consists of non-white males and so

this creates the stereotype that migrants are predominantly males that are

people of colour, which could be very damaging and encourage racial

discrimination. From Richard Dyer's four reasons for stereotyping, this one would be due to an expression of values. This links to the idea of hegemony as clearly, dominant ideologies are being normalised and forced upon the audience as an attempt to scare them into voting the way that they want them to.


The front page of the Daily Telegraph also attempts to push their ideologies onto their audience, but in a slightly more subtle manner. This representation is constructed very carefully to demonstrate that they are in favour of Brexit, through various different techniques. Firstly, the most obvious part of the image is the iconic union flag which boldly stands out, therefore a use of patriotism is being used to gather support. Through the gap we see an image of the extremely well known, Big Ben, and this is a message to the audience to focus on what is important. Additionally, ''the time has come'', has connotations of of significance, showing that something is going to happen. Time passes, opportunity is limited and so change is vital.



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