Teen Vogue.

I'm bored, looking for something to entertain me. I might be settling in for a long plane ride or just sitting on my couch, but I open up the current issue of Teen Vogue. Teen Vogue is one of my favourite magazines. I'm not a die hard fan, I don't have a subscription or anything but when looking for a magazine its one of my first picks.
The magazine is fashion geared, as it’s a teen version of Vogue. It's always filled with various interviews, sometimes with models or people in the fashion industry and always the person on the front cover (who is usually some kind of celebrity). It has tonnes of beauty tips, pictures from fashion shows and designer collections and lots of inside scoops into the lives of those who work the fashion circuit. I think it's one of my favorites because I'm really into clothes, shopping and all that stuff. Even though I can't buy designer doesn't mean I can't look at it ( or dream haha). Its neat to read the interviews of stars I find interesting or one's about stars from a recent movie I enjoyed.
I have never really thought deeply about that I read and see in this magazine until now. I just accepted it for what it was, fluff. Something I was interested in to read about, to pass the time.
From looking at advertising closer in our last unit I've come to realize there might be more behind this magazine than a love of fashion.
Every time I flip the page I'm seeing another designer name, or familiar Hollywood face. What's the purpose of this? Well, Advertising! When I'm seeing a Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs or Dolce & Gabbana ad or fashion show in the magazine, it’s the start of an advertising feedback loop. I as the consumer view the ad or pictures. If I like what I see, I might rip out the page, tell a friend about what I say, try to imitate the look or if I'm rich enough go out and buy the product. Seeing as I liked what I found I buy the next months issue. I see something else I like and the pattern continues. The Magazine gets the consumer as a regular customer and the advertisers also get the consumer as a regular customer but also as a potential influence. This loop is the same for the celebrities they put on the cover. The consumer of the magazine sees a star ( one they like, one on the rise etc.) on the cover of Teen Vogue. They buy the magazine, read the interview, look at the photo shoot pictures and learn facts they didn't know, maybe they are given new insight into the life of the star or juicy secrets about their relationship with another star. They are satisfied with the magazine and buy it again. Here the magazine is still getting readers and money, but the star is getting money and publicity.
So, when I'm reading the magazine thinking its just fluff, its not! The information and ads (which companies and designers pay a lot of money to have printed) selected for the magazine all have a purpose, to influence me as the consumer. Maybe they want to start a new trend or sell me some new product or item of clothing but the ads are picked to fit a certain criteria, a certain "cool". They are marketing ideas, clothes and people that fit "cool". Cool to marketers means new, hip, on the rise and above all money making. I used to think my definition of cool was unique, new, eye-catching, fun and a number of other qualities. But after finding out about the influence of advertising I feel that maybe that wasn't really MY definition. Where did I get the idea that those things were "cool"? Why do I label some clothes cool and others ugly? Why is Teen Vogue my favourite magazine?
The answer that maybe corporations and markets came up with my ideas about media and "cool" scares me. For so long, I'm just a regular teen thinking I'm making my own choices, and thinking that I'm my own person. Now, I see how much even something as simple as a magazine can influence my spending, values, definitions and preferences. I admit to feeling even a little used. Is money really that important that marketers and advertisers are willing to compromise who I am as a person?
With advertising, the saying " what you don't know can't hurt you" is completely false. I know now that every time I see an ad, brand name or magazine, I'm going to think twice about who's plastered on the cover or what I'm really getting out of it's messages and implications. Knowing more about advertising and its target audience ( teens) I've come to realize the more I know, the less it will hurt me. The more I know the more I can avoid being heavily influenced and taken advantage of.