2. Headline Intent vs Outcome (4 Marks) Choose one headline you created in Part B, Q#1 Part B and answer the following:
a) What is the primary intent of this headline? (e.g. curiosity, urgency, clarity, relevance, emotional pull)
b) What action or response is the headline designed to trigger?
c) Explain why this intent is appropriate for the target audience you selected.
“A 60 Year Old Man Says He Will Never Stop Kickflipping.”
The primary intent of my 3rd headline was to build curiosity within the reader while simultaneously being slightly humorous. Skateboarding is a sport heavily associated with youth culture since its conception. The sport is hard and to be able to do it one must be athletically fit and limber. Skateboard Tricks involve complex moves like jumping, spinning and landing at high distances and speeds. People usually associate the sport with young athletic and fearless individuals. What people don’t usually associate skateboard tricks with is elderly men. Elderly men lack a lot of the associate skills and requirements it takes to be a skateboarder. So when there is an elderly skateboarding it is viewed as a phenomenon and greatly builds Curiosity. The mental image of a 60 year old man refusing to stop doing skate board tricks is quite funny.
The main action I want from the reader is for them to engage with the rest of the article. I want my headline to build enough curiosity to drive the reader to click on my article to find out the rest of the story. The subversive and humorous nature of this headline will help to drive this action from the reader.
The intent of my headline fits well with the target audience of the Daily Globe Canada. Which tends to be 40 – 70 year olds who are in the middle class. They enjoy short feel good articles that can be easily digested and re-touted at their daily Tim Hortons friends meet up.
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