Are Celeb Mags the New Teen Mag?
Posted by anastasia on 07-27-2005Since more people have been discovering Ypulse, I've been getting more calls from reporters to give my "expert" opinion on various teen/tween related issues. I've found it helpful to blog about whatever question they are going to ask me first, because it helps me formulate my thoughts and answers to their questions in advance. This time around it's an AP reporter, and the question is are magazines like US Weekly and In Touch the new teen magazines. This also came up in a conversation I was having with the writers of a forthcoming book about Sassy.
My short answer is Yes. To me teen magazines have always been for younger teens/tweens — I would guess ages 10-11 to about 15. Sure there are some older readers, especially for the new fashion focused magazines like Teen Vogue and ELLEgirl, because they actually do a great job presenting the clothes. But I would guess that any older reader who picks up Teen Vogue is also reading Vogue. Same with Cosmo, Elle, etc. Older teens don't want to identify with stuff that is clearly targeted to teens.
So for the celeb angle — the teen magazine that's really nailing it is J-14. Why? Because younger teens obsessed with celebs want the teen-oriented pictorials and pin-ups the magazine provides. I think Teen People is the title that could be suffering from the success of US, In Touch, People, etc. They are celeb-focused but also fashion focused, article oriented, etc. Older teens who just want the dirt and to be reminded that stars are "just like us," will buy US.
The danger with teens reading "up" is that most of these mags run ads for cigarettes and alcohol….To my teen magazine editors and marketers that read, agree? disagree?
July 27th, 2005 at 10:03 am
I teach Magazine Publishing at the University of Central Florida and I survey the class at the beginning of each semester. Not being female, I wasn't sure what 18 year old girls read (quick note: 80 to 95% of my classes are female) and nearly every woman, 18 to 21, reads Cosmo. Most of them feel they live in the world of "Sex in the City" and are bombarded with the ideals that Cosmo sends out. However, I always thought Cosmo was more for late 20's and up females. Most of the ladies in class admitted to reading cosmo since about the age of 16. So I totally agree with you that these magazines are sending out some mixed messages as to who their audiences are.
On the same note, I'm a young publisher and was looking into starting a college mag for our school. The problem I kept coming across was that most of the ads for these free college mags are from bars and alcoholic drink companies. I couldn't start the magazine because I know that the majority of the students reading the magazine would be underage and I would be part of that mess that pushes this stuff on college kids. To me, its called social responsibility and to those large money-making corps like Conde Nast and so on, they'll never get their shit straight because they're feeding off the tit that is the alcohol and tobacco companies.
July 27th, 2005 at 12:14 pm
I think the issue is goes beyond the obvious "magazine circuit" and beyond, are US Weekly/In Touch the "new teen mags"?, in that celebrity gossip and celebrities lives have become more and more publisized and most importantly the celebirties have become willing participants, e.g, with shows like, "Fabulous Life of", Punked, etc.
There is also, a social capital and social networking piece here, in that your status rises among your peers the more you know about celebrities and the more you can confirm real news from false news So, are they the new teen magazines?, In one way maybe, but I think this is more of a reflection on how content needs to keep up with this new gereration.
July 28th, 2005 at 8:14 am
One of the issues we follow carefully at CPYU is that of "age aspiration" where kids desire to be older (while those of us who are older desire to be younger! ah for the good old days). Marketers know this and play on this, and in fact may even be driving this. Case in point, 17 magazine. I don't know any 17-year olds who read 17. They all read Cosmo, as Wayne mentioned, and other mags like Vogue, etc. It is the younger girls that read 17, because they want to look older, feel older, and be perceived as older. The real problem with this, as you pointed out, is the issue of the content. Not just the ads for alcohol or cigarettes, but articles and things dealing with sexuality. And the images. Images of beautiful, thin women who are supposed to the ideal women. Or at least these young girls think that's the case.
And its not just magazines. Its marketing in general. I remember reading, probably on Y Pulse, about Mattel putting out a REAL pre-paid Barbie cell phone for tweens aged 8-12. (first off, are 12 yer olds still playing with Barbies?)THis plays into the thinking that kids NEED cell phones. How many 8-year olds need a cell? Or 12 year olds for that matter. My almost 16-year old daughter doesnt even have one (though i think if I gave her one it would stay in a drawer most of the time…just not her thing).
But I think marketers and publishers know that their stated intended audience is probably a few years older than their "actual" audience, and they play into that, and need to be more careful.
July 28th, 2005 at 9:59 am
These are really interesting comments — I wanted to add a thought I had in the shower this morning about celebrity culture in general and how it's really taken over the fashion and style industry. The phenom of celeb cover models is relatively recent as is the InStyle approach of selling the celebrity lifestyle (products/goods you should buy b/c the celeb you love wears/owns them). Of course this has trickled down to teens who are, as Ken says, experiencing "age aspiration" anyway…