Teen Vogue offers a huge amount to discuss and write about for the concepts of audience and representation.

The exam could focus on anything from the changing nature of digital audiences to how certain groups or issues are represented in Teen Vogue online.

Notes from the lesson

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. However, the audience is still interested in celebrity content and beauty – which Teen Vogue addresses by featuring the ‘opinion leaders’ (two-step flow) of social media.

Generations

Generation X: Born between 1965 – 1980
Millennials / Generation Y: Born between 1981 – 1995
Generation Z (or iGen): Born 1996 – 2010

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)

Teen Vogue: audience interaction

How does Teen Vogue encourage audience interaction?

·                     Activism

·                     Social media

·                     ‘Clickbait’ and first-person headlines

·                     Events – Teen Vogue summit

https://youtu.be/2US5nRNq-sU

Representation

Changing representations

Feminist bloggers and websites such as Rookie and liberal blogJezebel have been credited with changing the representation of women and feminism in the digital age.


This can be linked to Clay Shirky’s ‘end of audience’ theory with digital influencers changing the media landscape for women – and established mainstream brands like Teen Vogue are following to stay relevant.

Teen Vogue: Audience and Representation blog tasks

Create a new blogpost called 'Teen Vogue Audience and Representation' and work through the following tasks to complete the audience and representation aspects of your Teen Vogue case study:

Audience

1)      Analyse the Conde Nast media pack for Teen Vogue. What is the Teen Vogue mission statement and what does this tell us about the target audience and audience pleasures?

Their mission statement is to 'educate, enlighten, and empower'. This tells us how they aim to give more than fashion to their readers, and they have responded to the social media uproar and how females are using those platform to be heard.

2) What is the target audience for Teen Vogue?

Use the media pack to pick out key aspects of the audience demographics. Also, consider the psychographic groups that would be attracted to Teen Vogue: make specific reference to the website design or certain articles to support your points regarding this.

The target audience is 63% generation Z and millennials, and is likely to be read by a vast majority of girls than boys, with the age starting from 15 to about 26. The audience are likely to be aspirers, as this magazine aims to give them a platform, or the confidence to find their platform. It is also likely that they are Mainstreamers, because they are guaranteed to use social media, and have general knowledge of pop-culture/new releases of products and technology.

3)      What audience pleasures or gratifications can be found in Teen Vogue? Do these differ from the gratifications of traditional print-based magazines?

The audience would relate to the interviews and the articles as they are heavily based on feminism and female experiences. They could most importantly find personal identification which is what the magazine has been focusing on with the ongoing debate about gender- they take pride in helping girls to find their community.

4) How is the audience positioned to respond to political news stories?

They are encouraged to be active and not passive about the news, and this is done by the editors challenging the news first, then inviting others to challenge it too.

5) How does Teen Vogue encourage audiences to interact with the brand – and each other – on social media?

The ‘tent poles and editorial pillars’ section of the media pack may help with this question.

They encourage the young audience to interact and to challenge what they have to live with, the politics that is decided for them, rather than distract them from it with new beauty products and celebrity stories. There was the summit that brought hundreds of girls together to talk about social issues and politics, and what impact they can have on their surroundings.

Representations

1)      Look again at the Conde Nast media pack for Teen Vogue. What do the ‘tent poles and editorial pillars’ (key events and features throughout the year) suggest about the representation of women and teenage girls on teenvogue.com?

'The Summit inspires, encourages, and connects a new generation of activists, creators and innovators, providing them with the insights and tools to change the world.'

They represent girls because most major magazines and companies lack consideration of the power that girls have, and do not credit their knowledge- it is clear that they wish to give them the head start that typically men always have received. 

2)      How are issues of gender identity and sexuality represented in Teen Vogue?

They have a liberal and welcoming view in terms of LGBTQ+ as they aim to represent everyone in an equally shed light, as feminism doesn't solely aim to empower women, but everyone. They interview minority groups in order to uncover communities for people that feel alone and have a sense of diaspora.

3)      Do representations of appearance or beauty in Teen Vogue reinforce or challenge traditional stereotypes?

They often have cruelty free make up advertised in the magazine, and often show different models in the entertainment editorials- this is arguably the most traditional aspect of the magazine as all the rest of the content has already evolved.

4)      What is the patriarchy and how does Teen Vogue challenge it? Does it succeed?

The patriarchy is the idea of male power over society. This magazine challenges it as it has a team full of feminist editors who make sure that their viewpoints are strictly against patriarchy. The irony in this is that mostly men run Conde Nast.

5)      Does Teen Vogue reinforce or challenge typical representations of celebrity?

There are typical representations in terms of photoshoots, pop culture and music, however they often take a liberal view on things and focus on those who have had eating disorders, mental health issues, and they also focus on celebrities who are less focussed on due to their body image.

Feature: how Teen Vogue represents the changing nature of media aimed at women

Read this Quartz feature - The true story of how Teen Vogue got mad, got woke, and began terrifying men like Donald Trump - and answer the following questions:

1)      How was the Teen Vogue op-ed on Donald Trump received on social media?

'Social media exploded with praise—and with baffled reactions. The piece, one Twitter user noted, had “big words for a magazine about hairstyles and celebrity gossip.” Another user expressed pure astonishment: “Who would have guessed @Teen Vogue might be the future of political news. Unreal coverage of the election.” Others were less kind, and a lot less subtle: “Go back to acne treatments,” one man snapped.'

2)      How have newspapers and magazines generally categorised and targeted news by gender?

They feed the public what the audience enjoy- and almost decide what they want to see for them. The print editors often stick to reliable conventions that they know each demographic will like as it is guaranteed to make them revenue and will in result be reciprocated in their audience’s interests.

3)      How is this gender bias still present in the modern media landscape?

People still don't expect much to come of women in power and often don't questions when women are out of the picture in terms of politics, large conglomerate companies and other businesses yet question it when they are.

4) What impact did the alternative women’s website Jezebel have on the women’s magazine market?

6)      Do you agree with the writer that female audiences can enjoy celebrity news and beauty tips alongside hard-hitting political coverage? Does this explain the recent success of Teen Vogue?

This is a valid point because men and women both live in the same society and both have to deal with the same political issues, so it is unquestionable that women have an interest in politics. This has made teen vogue successful because not many other magazines have addressed that interest- and because a lot of women have that interest, it’s likely they want to read teen vogue.

6) How does the writer suggest feminists used to be represented in the media?

7) What is the more modern representation of feminism? Do you agree that this makes feminism ‘stereotyped as fluffy’?

The article suggests that feminism now includes politics and other social issues rather than just women’s rights.

8) What contrasting audience pleasures for Teen Vogue are suggested by the writer in the article as a whole?

The audience may still enjoy fashion and make up, soft news such as celebrity gossip while this articles argues for the augmenting female interest in politics.

9) The writer suggests that this change in representation and audience pleasures for media products aimed at women has emerged from the feminist-blog movement. How can this be linked to Clay Shirky’s ‘end of audience’ theory?

The audience has responded to the traditional articles, wanting a change to make in their representations and what they cover as important for women to know, which means the editors have listened to the audience who are basically dictating what the editors write.

10) Is Teen Vogue simply a product of the Trump presidency or will websites and magazines aimed at women continue to become more hard-hitting and serious in their offering to audiences?

It could be argued that they use the president to sell their stories and remain relevant however because the issues raised are so real for women, even after the presidency these things will be important and relevant as we still would be faced with issues.