Teen Vogue: background reading
Read this Guardian feature from 2017 on Teen Vogue and answer the following questions.
1) What was the article that announced Teen Vogue as a more serious, political website – with 1.3m hits and counting?
The article that announced Teen Vogue as a more serious, political website with 1.3m hits and coming was an op-ed piece by Lauren Duca about Donald Trump gaslighting America
2) When was the original Teen Vogue magazine launched and what was its original content?
The original Teen Vogue magazine was launched in 2004 and its original content used to focus on the standard cocktail of fashion must-haves and celebrity worship
3) How did editor Elaine Welteroth change Teen Vogue’s approach in 2015?
Editor Elaine Welteroth changed Teen Vogue's approach in 2015 by featuring three unknown black models on the cover, that break conventions. “It was everything which, during my 15 years working in New York, I heard, ‘You can’t do it; it won’t sell,’” creative director Marie Suter told a reporter for the Atlantic- however, it became the bestselling issue of the year
4) How many stories are published on Teen Vogue a day? What topics do they cover?
Teen Vogue publishes between 50 and 70 stories a day. They cover topics such as fashion, entertainment and current affairs
5) What influence did digital director Phillip Picardi have over the editorial direction?
Director Phillip Picardi had an influence over the editorial direction in that he thought that Teen would have to "dig into politics and the news cycle"
6) What is Teen Vogue’s audience demographic and what does ‘woke’ refer to?
Teen Vogue's audience demographic lies with 18-24 year olds and Welteroth described their readership as 'genderless', sophisticated and conscious. Welteroth regards Teen Vogue as a 'woke' brand and believes their readers are too
7) What issues are most important to Teen Vogue readers?
The issues that are most important to Teen Vogue readers are things like cultural appropriation and feminism. Creative director Marie Suter is charged with keeping the look and feel “elevated and sophisticated, no matter (how radical) the content”, and the web platform operates as “a playground to test out different things” – what Welteroth calls “consumer research on demand”
8) What does Tavi Gevinson suggest regarding the internet and ‘accountability culture’ with regards to modern audiences? Can you link this to our work on Clay Shirky?
Tavi Gevinson suggests that the internet has created an “accountability culture”, where the relationship with readers is closer and more transparent, and says brands have had to respond to that. Consumers have been given more of a voice and can now criticise the professional producers that used to hold all the power. The fact that Tavi Gevinson regards readers as (amateur consumers) being closer to the brands (professional producers) they are now able to actually influence production, something that wouldn't have been possible in the old relationship between consumers and producers signifying the end of audience
9) What social and political issues have been covered successfully by Teen Vogue?
The social and political issues that have been covered successfully by Teen Vogue include Trump's election, the Black Lives Matter Movement, LGBTQ+ community rights, immigration and women's rights
10) What do Teen Vogue readers think of the magazine and website?
Teen Vogue readers think that the magazine and website maintain a good balance between fashion and political and social issues due to the belief that you can be interested in both
Teen Vogue: Factsheet Part 1
Read Media Factsheet #200 Teen Vogue - Part 1. Answer the following questions:
1) The Factsheet suggests Teen Vogue has successfully made the transition to an online, social and participatory product. Why? What platforms is it now available on?
The Factsheet suggests Teen Vogue has successfully made the transition to an online, social and participatory product due to its reflection of the the challenges facing print products, and reinforces ideas about a changing media landscape and audience expectations. It is now available on platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest
2) Look at the screenshots and details on pages 3-4 of the Factsheet. What does Teen Vogue offer its audience?
Teen Vogue seems to offer its audiences the latest news on fashion trends, make-up along with political and social issues such as the suffering of Appalachian coal miners
3) Who is the typical Teen Vogue reader?
The typical Teen Vogue reader is 18-24 years olds and editor Welteroth added that their readership is 'genderless', sophisticated and conscious. Welteroth regards Teen Vogue as a 'woke' brand and believes their readers are too
4) Finally, look at pages 6-7 focusing on representations. What range of representations can be found in Teen Vogue and what does this suggest regarding Teen Vogue's values and ideologies?
The representations found in Teen Vogue are mostly positive and left leaning as suggested by the numerous articles about him all with quite negative headlines
Teen Vogue textual analysis and example articles
Work through the following tasks to complete your textual analysis of the Teen Vogue website and read notable Teen Vogue articles to refer to in exam answers.
Homepage analysis:
Go to the Teen Vogue homepage and answer the following:
1) What website key conventions can you find on the Teen Vogue homepage?
Some of the key website conventions on Teen Vogue homepage are the horizontal navigation bar along the top and the brand logo situated at the top left as well as the search button at the top right and a link named 'newsletter' which redirects readers to sign up to the newsletter
2) How does the page design encourage audience engagement?
The page design encourages audience engagement through the use of GIFs and images of celebrities that audiences may recognise and therefore be more likely to click on as it makes the articles seem more personal
3) Where does advertising appear on the homepage?
The advertising on the homepage appears in the same format as some of the articles as a one-off section of its own along with a whole row at the very bottom
4) What are the items in the top menu bar and what does this tell you about the content of Teen Vogue?
The items in the top menu bar are: Style, Politics, Culture, Identity, Video, Summit, and Shopping. This tells us that the content of Teen Vogue is quite varied which means that there is inclusion for everybody's interests
5) How far does the homepage scroll down? How many stories appear on the homepage in total?
The homepage scrolls very far due to the total of 33 stories appearing
Lifestyle section:
Now analyse the Lifestyle section of Teen Vogue (in the Identity section) and answer the following:
1) What are the items in the top menu bar for the Lifestyle section?
The items in the top menu bar for the Lifestyle section are Health, Sex and Relationships, Wellness, Horoscope, Lifestyle, and Voices
2) How is the Lifestyle section designed to encouragement audience engagement? Think about page design, images, text and more.
The Lifestyle section is designed to encourage audience engagement through the layout of the articles which resembles a list. The organised format encourages audiences to click through the articles in an orderly fashion and makes navigation easier
3) What do you notice about the way headlines are written in Teen Vogue?
Teen Vogue headlines are written in a relatively straightforward way to understand which allows readers to know what to expect as well as the familiarity providing an environment in which readers feel that they can return
4) What does the focus on education, university and ‘campus life’ tell you about the Teen Vogue audience demographics and psychographics?
The focus on education, university and 'campus life' tells us that the Teen Vogue audience demographics are young people who are educated. In terms of psychographics, the Teen Vogue audience are likely to be Succeeders or Reformers as they are the type of audience that is likely to have strong goal orientation or are intellectuals that value their own independent judgement
Teen Vogue: Five key articles
Read the following five notable Teen Vogue features then answer the questions below.
Donald Trump Is Gaslighting America
Black Teens Have Been Fighting for Gun Reform for Years
Netflix and strong female leads
How to Break Away From the Gender Binary
1) What do you notice about the content and style of these articles? What do they have in common?
A noticeable feature with the content of Teen Vogue is that it states that changes to society have been presented as becoming more positive and they adopt a left-wing liberal approach
2) How do the articles use narrative to engage the reader? Try and apply narrative theory here if possible - what makes the reader want to click or read more?
Todorov's theory of disequilibrium can be applied to Teen Vogue through the suggestion that the issues presented in the news section of the website is the disequilibrium and addressing and reading about the cause of the issue leads to the new equilibrium
3) Pick a quote from each article that illustrates the political, 'woke' ideology of Teen Vogue and paste it here.
- "black youth, who've been passionately advocating for gun control measures, have been demonized, obfuscated, and overlooked": Black Teens Have Been Fighting for Gun Reform for Years
- "A lot of impact can be made online, and older generations don't always get that": The New Face of Teen Activism
- "if you shake up stereotypes and break boundaries with regard to what a female character can do, people will watch": Netflix and Strong Female Leads
- "It wasn't one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history, so presumably that's another red-herring lie to distract from Trump treating the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States like it is some rogue blogger to be cast to the trolls": Donald Trump Is Gaslighting America
- "Cancel the gender reveal parties": How to Break Away From the Gender Binary
4) What effect on the audience are these articles hoping to achieve?
These articles are trying to encourage audiences that things are undoubtedly changing in society to reflect what young people seem to be more open-minded about they set out to inspire them to accelerate this process and ensure that they meet their final destination
5) How do these article reflect the values and ideologies of the modern Teen Vogue?
No comments:
Post a Comment