Content Teenage Magazine analysis : Creme NZ

Content Analysis:

In class I analysed 'Creme' a New Zealand magazine that has a target market of 10 to 15 year old teenage girls. The cover girl of this Magazine was Selena Gomez, her image makes us think of when she was a sweet innocent Disney star, who is famous for dating Justin Beiber and being best Friends with Demi Lovato.

 Selena Gomez was wearing bright youthful clothes which makes her seem more young as she was not showing any cleavage or skin. Cremes cover girls often have white complexions who are very pretty and skinny. They carefully choose their cover girl as they know the front page of the magazine has to attract their target market. When choosing the perfect cover girl the editor of the magazine looks for a celebrity who still has an innocent 'girl next door' image. The reason the magazine is so picky is because, most of their readers make their parents buy the magazine for them and if the parent does not think the celebrity on the front cover is appropriate for their child to be reading about, then they wont buy it for them. This means a large amount of time is required when choosing the cover girl of the magazine.

The colours used on the front cover of the magazine were Purple and Yellow these are bright colours which attract its target market. They choose these bright colours because they have to compete with other teenage magazines like girlfriend and dolly. If the magazine is not attractive to their target market it will not be sold and therefore not gain a profit. The only image on the front cover was the famous Selena Gomez.

What stories, features are adveritsed on the front cover?
The stories or 'Features' were mainly about celebrity gossip music and boy bands e.g. an interview with fallout boy was advertised on the cover. Also an interview with Selena was promised hinting that she will talk about Justin Bieber and Taylor swift. This shows how the magazine contains articles about celebrity gossip, beauty, music and boys. These articles show how the media industry already knows what their readers are interested in.

 How many adverts were inside the magazine are the products reasonably priced?
The number of adverts Advertised  in the Magazine was 21. These ads were made up of makeup, hair products, clothing and technology. The price of these products were quite expensive for the target market to purchase for instance not many 13 yearolds could afford $40.00 lipsticks so retailers rely on teenage girls pestering their parents to purchase these products. It was quite shocking of how many double ups of ads were found in the articles as they were hidden beneath Beauty columns, which genreate remakes of celebrity looks that promise the reader if they buy these products advertisted they will be able to look like a celebrity.

What is the main focus of the articles contained in the magazine?
Beauty - Makeup advice, Style tips etc.
Celebrities - Musicians, actresses inside gossip
Remakes of celebrities appearances
Advice for relationships (friends and boyfriends)

The articles published in this magazine encouraged young girls to look like celebrities as beauty articles focused mainly on makeup and fashion remakes of a celebrity
look. Acompanying the article were beauty products that could help you achieve this celebrity look advertised in the article. The articles were mainly focused on beauty and they encouraged girls to try and be like these celebrities. I  believe these articles are ruining young teenage girls self esteems as these unrealistic photoshopped images try to be repliced by these readers who will not succede in recreating these impossibly perfect images of celebrities. This image of unattainable beauty makes young girls feel insecure which will in turn cause them to go out and buy these advertised beauty products that will supposedly help them achieve their desired celebrity look. The articles about Boys gave the young readers advice about how to deal with a crush or first kiss in relation to the opposite sex. These types of articles often ommited same sex relationships which are becoming increasingly common, this shows how the Media stereotypes all teenage girls as being the same for instance the same white complexsion, blonde or bruneete hair colour and a straight sexual orientaion. Some young girls may feel like they are not normal as they do not fit the media's criteria of how a normal teenage girl should look or act like.

http://www.isubscribe.co.nz/images/covers/NZ/94/7248/large/CremeMagazine1551391736.jpg

I think this Magazine is relatively quite tame in contrast to other magazines like Dolly which publish sexual questions and health advice. Which is reassuring as the ages of their teenage market are quite low, so these types of topics would be very inappropriate for them to be reading. The idea of being beautiful and skinny has been quickly introduced throughout the magazine as these articles encourage girls to try and achieve the desired look of what the magazine expects of them as they portray the perfect girl as looking like  Selena Gomez. These unrealistic images of how a girl should look can result in a high number of eating disorders and mental illness diagnosed as young girls try to be like these stick thin celebrities these pressures are caused from the media.


What stereotypes of teenage girls are presented in the magazine?
The common stereotype is of a blonde or brunette who is skinny and has a white flawless complexion. This type of stereotype is regularly published within the magazine. No other ethnic groups are included apart from white skinned woman in the magazine. This kind of stereotype has a negative effect on teenage girls as they feel they have to live up to this image of what they should look like. Most readers of the magazine will not fit all of the requirements of this image, so they will feel like they are not seen as 'normal' as they don't  look like the cover girl who is portrayed by the magazine as being a  'normal' teenage girl. Therefore these stereotypes make young girls feel like they don't belong in society as they do not look like these skinny beautiful white girls who are portrayed by the magazine as being 'normal'.

Are their any omissions in the magazine? 
Curvy or healthy sized models were not shown in the magazine and no other ethnic groups were shown apart from Caucasian woman. Other sexual preferences were not mentioned either e.g. no gay or lesbian relationships were published in the magazine. It was reassuring to see that drugs, sex and alcohol were not mentioned in the articles of the magazine.

Which celebrities are offered as role models? 
Selena Gomez is the cover girl on this magazine, Demi lovato, Taylor swift these female celebrities are good role models as they have not had any bad press e.g. taking drugs being too thin. Demi lovato has recently criticised Hollywood for causing her eating disorder of Bulimia she now has rebelled against the traditional stick thin celebrity look. Demi has vented her frustrations over twitter "there needs to be more variety on television so young girls growing up don't feel pressured to look one specific way."These types of celebrities are appropriate role models for young teenage girls to aspire to be like as they all have good morals and are healthy weights. http://www.kovideo.net/demi-lovato-criticises-disney-for-making-fun-of-eating-disorder-news-demi-lovato-4705.html

What does the magazine portray as being normal?

The magazine portrays a normal teenage girl to be skinny, pretty and white skinned. This generalised view of a  teenage girl is misrepresented, as most readers will not fit into most of these categories which determine whether you look like a 'normal' teenage girl. The media's idea of normal is highly unrealistic for example the common barbie doll who younger preteen girls idolise this doll's figure is physically impossible to have for instance she would not be able to stand up because her body frame would be so unbalanced. These unrealistic ideas of how a girl should look are ridiculous as from the picture you see on the right clearly shows how much an average woman's proportions are not being used at all when Mattel designed Barbie. http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45543000/gif/_45543032_barbie_comparison466.gif

Does it provide a postive message about what it is to be a teenage girl today?
Yes and no as it does provide articles about self esteem but majority of them are about improving your looks and aspiring to look and act like Celebrities like Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift and Demi Lovato. Some of these celebrities are appropriate to show young girls that you can be pretty and curvy such as Demi Lovato who has started fighting against the traditional stick thin Hollywood look. But in contrast Taylor swift and Selena Gomez have unrealistic body shapes as they are so incredibly thin. I think that magazines like the one I have analysed focus too much on beauty as the articles are always telling young girls how they should aspire to look like certain celebrities e.g. Gomez. These messages of being beautiful have had a mixed reaction from young readers as some have used these images to feel more confidant and it has been worse for others who feel they can not live up to the high expectations of what the media thinks of them. Therefore I think if the media targeted at young girls was more restricted and controlled there would be less eating disorders and mental illnesses amongst young teenage girls.