One of the ideas that Stuart Hall pushes is that stereotyping is harmful due to its reduction of people into a few simplified characteristics or traits. For lack people, the stereotype found is often laziness, uneducated, infatuated with gangs, impoverished. This shows how easy it is to debase someone's internal humanity and its complexity by summing them up in a few words. Because of this, and other factors, minorities in society can often become saddled with "the spectacle of the other", in which their lack of power and social standings are exploited and ultimately they are constructed as 'other'.
The big issue is essentially a magazine about the other. It's about homelessness, poverty, mental illness, aspirations and more but the sections of society most commonly finding themselves portrayed as the other are often the centre of The Big Issue. Take, for example, the Grayson Perry article in which he writes a letter to his younger self. They have, on page 15, a picture of Perry in what most would consider an usual style of dressing and seems very non-binary. It comes with the quotation "The Daily Mail would be happy to know they facilitated my sexual fetish". This line is very on those nose and stands out in the way the magazine wants it to but its primary function is use the otherness of Grayson Perry, that was perhaps perpetuated by the Daily Mail, to show that being different is acceptable. Rather than being apologetic for his difference, Perry instead amplifies what makes him different. This shows a reversal of Hall's idea of the spectacle of the other: the Big Issue takes it and makes it an attribute and a thing to be proud of.
Stuart Hall also sees stereotypes as a reduction of people down to a few perfected characteristics that are overly simplified. It can be used as a shortcut to meaning, as stereotypes gradually become more used and more recognisable, people can begin to quickly associate a person with a stereotype. If a newspaper wants to portray Grayson Perry as weird, pro-LGBT, old and not to be taken seriously, it could be easy to do that as it ignores the complexity of human character. This plays into the spectacle of the other, as an inequality between groups in society exists. Often on TV, a Middle Eastern character will be a Muslim, family orientated and close minded person even though that is clearly not realistic. But this stereotype is easily recognisable and can be established easier than a character who is complex and doesn't fit the paradigm. On the other hand, white characters are typically more developed and diverse in terms of beliefs and personalities. The same inequality can be observed in a newspaper or magazine; Corbyn supporters (politicians or otherwise) can be quickly classified as a staunch champagne socialist, or a Conservative can be classed as cold, scheming and powerful. The Big Issue recognises that inequalities exist and uses it as a fuel for its sales.
By design, the magazine is about people who can be treated as the others. In The Big Issue In The North (Issue 70), the front cover is about Beth Orton and the larger topic of women breaking into the music industry. John Bird is inherently an aspirational person or at least one who promotes it and so the magazine reflects the idea that the other can be incorporated. The line "leading women into music" suggests they will break down a barrier of some sort and insert themselves into the industry, despite an inequality existing. Again, their previous disenfranchisement is being played on by the magazine and rather than complain about it, the Big Issue wants to demonstrate that people can break down barriers and paradigms can be shifted.
There's an article called "How To Become A Successful Writer", which furthers the ideology that the outsiders can break into industries. Some of its content clashes with the ideology that outsiders should be lifted up, as the first paragraph talks about "ordinary people". It's important to note, here, that otherness is relative; although our society is multicultural, we still see or are familiar with specific ethnicities or types of people more than we are with others. A magazine in Dubai would perhaps portray Sharia law as the norm, whereas in Britain it has a higher chance of being criticised. There's a common perception of writing being hard to get into or being entirely reliant on natural skill, so in this scenario the elite and the people in the industry are the people who fit into the role of being anti-other. "Ordinary people", as they put it are the other as they are portrayed as being unskilled or not knowledgeable in this area and are therefore subjected to another inequality. This is the preferred reading but the oppositional reading could say that the Big Issue is also creating 'otherness' by using the term "ordinary people", which is probably problematic for the ideologies the magazine wants to hold.
You could also argue that the aspirational aspects of the Big Issue is a problem. The idea perpetuated is often that the Big Issue can help you to become skilled or can help you to break into your desired industry. If you take an oppositional reading to this, you could argue that otherness is something that should thrive and be embraced, yet the Big Issue seems to want to push its audience towards the establishment and into the order of things. Society tends to nullify differences and smooth everyone over into someone inoffensive and ready to fit into a working environment. It could be argued that this is negative and Big Issue is pushing people towards an 'ordinary' and societally acceptable lifestyle.
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