Teen Vogue is an American online publication, formerly in print, launched in January 2003, as a sister publication to Vogue, targeted at teenagers. Like Vogue, it included stories about fashion and celebrities.
What is Teen Vogue? – Teen Vogue is an American online publication, formerly in print, launched in January 2003, as a sister publication to Vogue, targeted at teenagers. Like Vogue, it included stories about fashion and celebrities but also includes features on politics, culture, identity etc.
Ownership: Condé Nast
Audience
Although the brand name suggests a teenage audience, the typical Teen Vogue reader has evolved in recent years. The move to more political content has broadened the appeal and changed the genre – young women now expect more from their media.
The ‘Campus Life’ section in Lifestyle also suggests an older readership.
Although, the audience is still interested in celebrity content and beauty – which Teen Vogue addresses by featuring the ‘opinion leaders’ (two-step flow *LAZARSFELD*) of social media.
Teen Vogue: political positioning
Teen Vogue generally takes a liberal, left-wing political stance and positions its readers to become active in their support:
Pro-feminist
Pro-gender fluidity and gender identity
Supports LGBT equality
Pro-multiculturalism
Supports Black Lives Matter
Pro-environment (accepting science on climate change)
Pro-choice (abortion)
Ideas and themes of new media can be represented through Teen Vogue through their political positionings and an interesting target audience of young people, specifically female teens mainly. They feature sections within their website such as ‘shopping’, ‘culture’ and ‘identity’.
Theorists to mention
Marshall McLuhan:
“The Medium is the Message” – a good theorist to quote in your exam.
“Societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media by which men communicate than by the content of the communication”
New media and the shaping the thoughts and behaviours of the new generation.
Means that the important thing about media is not the messages they carry but the way the medium itself affects human consciousness and society at large. In other words owning a TV that we watch is more significant that anything we watch on it.
Youth Gun Violence Activists Can’t Be Asked to Save the World
