Task 3: Essay

To what extent should magazines be held responsible for the social ramifications of the representations they offer? 

   Magazines should be a held partly responsible ramifications of the representation they offer, although there are also lots of other factors that that could be held responsible for this.  

   The way magazines aimed at teen girls attract their audience with there cover page. The magazines use colours that appeal to girls eye, these colours are, Orange, White, Pink, Yellow and some Red. The reasons these colours attract teen girls are, they are usually thought of as colours that a vast majority of girls like therefore when a girl goes into a shop she will automatically look for those colours. Also these colours have been stereotyped to girls. Also the creators of the cover use images of well know celebrities who some girls will idolize, therefore making them want to read the magazines. Pictures of cloths and accessories that are new, expensive or worn by a well know person, girls find this interesting as most want to be rich and able to afford all of these designer cloths. Or on the other hand the magazine advertises all of the bargains out there which will have the same effect. Other ways they get there audience is by using cover lines which the reader is going to relate to like, Breast size, sex, boys, hair, looks/beauty tips, cloths and education.  Overall magazine creators use very effective ways of attracting a certain type of reader and they obviously work with the large number of girls buying these magazines.

   There are lots of magazines that use these techniques, such as Bliss, More and Cosmo Girl plus many more. The reason they use them are that they know that it is effective and will get girls wanting to read them and using the contents. When teenagers, especially girls, buy a magazine there will most likely be a cover line on the cover explaining to them how they should look, dress and wear make up. This has social ramifications because while they are trying to appeal to a audience, in telling an individual how they should look which can damage a persons self esteem.
    Coming from this, theses magazines cover lines (shown in this image to right) such as "Vending machine diet" and "90 electric essentials". This can give young people the thoughts that in order to be seen in society that they have to dress a certain way or to dress similar to a celebrity, giving them no sense of individuality this will be the same for every teenager boy or girl who reads these magazines.
   As well as putting pressure on teenagers many of these magazines use sexually explicit material. The average age range for these magazines is between 11 and 16. It is not appropriate to pressure girls with this type of media as it could have social ramifications.
      In conclusion, i feel that these magazines editors should reduce the amount of stereotypical and sexual material that is in the magazine. I know that some representations go through  mediation but sometimes a teenager just wants to read about things happening in a celebrities life instead of how to be like them. Therefore, i would like to see more information in these magazines that real teenagers would be interested in like life events about celebrities and reviews on other aspects of media instead of explicit and damaging information.