Teen Magazines

Cover Analysis

'Girlfriend' is a magazine written by women for young teenage girls. by the look of the cover and the name it probably has a guide to teenage boys, celebrities and girl stuff. 

The cover girl is Lea Michele from Glee. She is well known for her singing and acting. she has a large smile and a skinny 'perfect' looking body. she has tanned skin and medium length brown curls for hair, and big brown eyes. although she is probably photoshopped in the cover she looks like someone a lot of teenage girls would aspire to look like. 

There are only three colors used on the cover which is pink black and white, all three colors go together and they also match with Lea Michele's body and clothing. the colors were probably used to look basic but eye catching. The color pink normally appeals to teenage girls. 

On the right there are two small pictures of posters that are found in the magazine. One of One Direction which is eye catching for Teenage girls who listen to pop music because they are the big boy band at the moment, there is also a picture of Taylor Swift who is a girl that sings songs about love which is something a lot of teenage girls like to listen about. 

Most of the articles that are set on the cover are about boys and how to interact or deal with them and famous people. These two things are probably the most important things to teenage girls and this is why the editors at Girlfriend have advertised them on the cover. 

Inside The Magazine

Articles:

Makeup : 6
Skin Care: 5
Hair: 1
Clothes/ Jewelry: 12
Tv/ Movies: 2
Perfume:1

There aren't to many advertisements in this magazine probably because teenagers cant afford most of the stuff that they are advertising. They do have a lot of advertisements on clothing because having the latest fashions are more 'needed' then good makeup or skin care. the products are reasonably priced if you are in a medium to high social economic group but if you don't have much money you could only dream of having the clothes shown.

Main Focus'
Beauty; the main focus for beauty is more on keeping your skin clear and reduce spots to make you feel better about yourself rather then using makeup to cover up the faults you may see in yourself. I think its incourging for girls to see this sort of thing because it makes you feel better about yourself and knowing that you can do something about the things you don't like rather then just covering them up and forgetting about them.

Fashion; There is a lot of fashion advertisements in 'Girlfriend' and is probably the second most advertised thing in the magazine. i think its nice to see what the latest fashions are but they should look for clothes that are the same but at a cheaper price so more girls can afford to feel like they fit in. If girls or their families cant afford the latest fashions then girls start to feel down on themselves because they cant fit in with other girls or feel 'cool'

Relationships with friends; Girlfriend has an advice column which is for readers to ask a Adolescent Psychologist about friendship and life problems/ situations which they feel they need help with. Dr Michael Carr-Gregg answers these questions in a helpful way but also in a way for girls of any age to understand. He adds facts in his answers to help girls understand that what they are going through may not be easy but other people out there have been through it and they aren't the only ones.  There are also advice pages through-out the magazine about how to deal with friendship things such as meeting the parents.

Relationships with boys; there is a lot of boy talk in this magazine. in a way its good because boys are a teenage girls main focus. Girlfriend has a whole section on boys. Theres things like facts about boys, What guys really talk about with their friends, answered by 4 teenage boys who go to high-school and how to deal with a break-up. all of this is really good information but some of its not as realistic as what it could be. in the article about dealing with breakups it makes breaking up sound a lot easier then what it really is. it says " ...block him so that he cant see what your up to"  blocking someone is actually a lot harder then it sound be and blocking an ex boyfriend could possibly be a step to far as he might start stuff as soon as he knows you've blocked him, and because you've blocked him how are you going to know what people are saying.

Advice; the advice in Girlfriend has been well done. they have advice about almost anything. Boys, Health, Fashion, Makeup, Family, Friends, Famous People, How to reach your goals. you name it and they probably have it. a lot of the advice is extremely helpful and inspirational.

World Affairs and politics ; There is nothing on World Affairs or Politics probably because this magazine is made for young teenagers who don't really need to worry about the government.

Sex; There is one article in the magazine about how to talk to your parents about sex but other then that there isn't to much about sex. this could be because young teens don't really want to think about sex until they are older.

diets ; Girlfriend bases their health articles on being healthy rather then being on a diet. this is good because too many young girls are becoming anorexic, if more magazines did what Girlfriend does with their health articles then there would probably not be as many anorexic girls in new zealand.

Personal Opion

I think that Girlfriend magazine is a good magazine for young teenagers as it supplies good articles about things that teenage girls worry about everyday. it tells girls how to handle everyday situations properly. It encourages girls to be themselves and be proud of who they are, it also encourages them to live a strong and healthy life. all the articles in the magazine have some significance of living a positive life which i think is good because as girls start turning into teenagers they sometimes forget how to be happy and reading some of the articles in the magazine makes you feel better about yourself. I think that other magazines such as Creme and Dolly should start doing what Girlfriend does and write more inspirational things to help lift the self-esteem of teenage girls in New Zealand.