Arctic Monkeys Magazine Advert - Subverting Conventions

The advert for Arctic Monkeys' 'AM' subverts the majority of the conventions of an album advertisement. Whilst it contains typical information, such as the artist's name, album name, release date and record company logo, it lacks other elements, such as social media information, reviews or phrases like 'featuring the single...'. The advert is incredibly simplistic due to the monochrome colour palette, limited text, simple font and simple artwork.

However, its simple style helps to make it stand out. The white text on black background allows it to be read easily. The lack of additional text also helps to make the advert stand out as the key information (release date and album name) can be seen more clearly, this would make the information easier for the audience to remember, therefore, making the artist and album more well known, leading to more success.

The large amount of open space on the advert gives it a calm atmosphere, this makes it more enticing to potential buyers. The sound wave design also evokes a feeling of serenity and openness. This image also links to the album title 'AM' as the wave is called an 'amplitude modulation' or 'AM', this conforms to the advert convention of having visuals that link to the album name.

The advert does not contain an image of the band, subverting the idea of the 'star image', however this is typical of the indie genre. The fact that the band name 'Arctic Monkeys' is in a different, and larger, font (their logo) to the rest of the text on the advert suggests that the name is the most important feature, this conforms to the idea of the 'star image' as the advert is enforcing the band's brand.