Big Issue Essay Revision

This front cover page of the Big Issue features the 'British icon' Paddington in the snow. The cover is both paying homage to the popular fiction bear and highlighting the issues of homelessness in London at Christmas time. 
The headline of the cover uses the noun phrase 'Migrant British icon' followed by the main title 'One Of Us'. The use of the evaluative adjective 'migrant' has been used by The Big Issue to give a sense of normality to the word which is often misused in politics and has become associated with negative connotations. By stating that the popular figure Paddington is a migrant the looming fear of the unknown is lifted as stereotypically migrants are associated with deviance and criminality yet by adding this quality to Paddington, similar qualities of the fictional character are then associated with 'migrants'. The main heading 'One of us' creates a synthetic personalisation to the audience particularly through the pronoun 'us' which unifies the readers and migrants together. The bottom headline reads 'Paddington and the new spirit of Christmas', here the use of the adjective in 'new spirit' signals a change to the audience and a sense of a Liberal attitude. 

In the background it is clear to see that Big Issue have chosen to use a CGI adaptation of London in order to convey the homelessness issue which is prominent in London and relates to the Big Issues ideologies and attempts to solve the ever-growing issue. The Big Issue company has attempted to solve the crisis through providing the employment opportunity to homeless people to sell the magazines with the seller pocketing £1.25 (half the price of the selling price). The use of Paddington therefore promotes the migrant and homeless issues and conveys the idea of how the increase of migrant levels may lead to further homelessness. 
On the front cover the Elizabeth tower is shown (more commonly known as Big Ben) along with the rest of the houses of parliament and the river Thames which all landmark London. The Big Issue may have chosen to use the silhouette of the landmarks to signify the homeless issue in London and draw attention to the migrant crisis in relation to the EU referendum. Noticeably the colour blue has been used in multiple tones to convey a night time scenery. The blue may also symbolise trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven, as defined by colour psychology. 
Another large factor to the homelessness theme is the snow. The use of the snow may have been used to show the harsh weather conditions that the people living on the streets have to deal with as even the bench is covered leaving very little area to sleep outside in the cold. This therefore highlights the companies aim to aid homelessness as the £1.25 per issue may go towards helping someone find a warm place to stay for the night. The snow also more obviously links with the 'spirit of Christmas'. 

The main factor of the poster is the CGI Paddington bear. The nostalgic character is shown in his traditional attire of the blue coat and vibrant red hat. Viewing the front cover as a whole it is evident that the blue and red clothing has been used to not only show the 'British Icon['s]' outfit but the colours also convey the British flag with the red white and blue. 
Paddington is portrayed to be friendly and welcoming as the character is waving to the reader. The use of this feature may have been used to show the friendliness and normality of migrants who are portrayed to be delinquent and troublesome by the media. The suitcase that the character is holding also illustrates the homelessness and migrant theme which is shown throughout this front cover.