Ypulse Monthly Teen Mag Roundup
Posted by casey on 07-13-2010
This month’s Seventeen is Rihanna’s first teen magazine cover since the Chris Brown scandal, which undoubtedly made for touchy call on editor in chief Ann Shoket’s end of whether to address domestic abuse or gloss over it. In this case, the Q&A-style article asks Rihanna what she wants readers to take away from her “experience with Chris.” She basically says that she hopes girls will have the inner strength to get out of bad relationships when they find themselves in the middle of them, and that people take relationships too seriously… “if you want to have a boyfriend, make sure he’s making you laugh all the time.” On the topic of boyfriends, there’s information about making a summer fling last, what to do when your boyfriend cheats (33% of readers have continued dating a boy that cheated), and readers’ best love lessons (“he dumped me after sex,” “he used me as a rebound,” etc.).
By August, school is on the horizon (or back-to-school shopping is, anyway) and Seventeen has 926 ways to get a “pretty, fun style.” It’s almost as if Seventeen is aiming to give the ailing retail industry a much-needed boost, because they also have advice for making “more money for the mall.”
The issue also has a bonus fitness insert about achieving “your best body by the first day of school.” I like the emphasis on “your best” instead of, say, “perfect” or “better,” and I love that they talk to three teen girls who changed their lifestyles (and lost weight in a healthy way) by playing sports, running marathons, and going on walks with friends. They include some pretty delicious recipes from a nutritionist, and all kinds of workout tips from teen stars and their personal trainers.
If the old adage “all press is good press” is true, this might be the best issue yet for Teen Vogue. The magazine has garnered more press than ever before (see New York Magazine, Salon, and Gawker) with their August issue for a little story called “Boy Toys: He’s fun, trustworthy, and supportive, plus you don’t have to compete with him. He’s your gay best friend–and he’s in demand.” Although I don’t agree with the objectification of a person and believe they shouldn’t be liked to the season’s It designer purse, girls aren’t going to come away from the article searching for a token gay best friend. The letter from the editor reaffirms that the article is meant to celebrate a valuable friendship instead of reducing a relationship to an accessory, but this quote from one teen is admittedly cringe-worthy: “A few years ago, all the popular, pretty girls were walking hand in hand with a preppy jock… now you’ll see them in the hallways with a Mulberry bag on one arm and a Johnny Weir look-alike on the other.”
The cover story features on-again, off-again, on-again (and 48 hours after the Teen Vogue interview, off-again) couple Demi Lovato and Joe Jonas, who talk about filming Camp Rock 2, going to real-life summer camp, and remaining friends with exes.
Taking a cue from Michelle Obama, the magazine discusses the increasingly unhealthy state of school lunches. Kids who eat school-provided lunches weigh more and have worse cholesterol levels — that that’s middle-school age alone. They encourage girls to take the problem into their own hands by petitioning the school district, and also remind readers to eat more raw vegetables, choose deli meat over burgers, and grab milk instead of soda — fairly typical healthy eating tips, but also the most valuable for young readers.
Categorized under: Magazines
July 13th, 2010 at 10:42 am
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