Write An Article For Magazine Essay Example for Free

Write An Article For Magazine Essay I am reporting as both a child psychologist and a concerned parent, on the matter of the content of teenage magazines. My own daughter made me aware of this issue when I decided to look through one of her Bliss magazines; I discovered what kinds of stories were printed in them and others teenage magazines such as sugar. I was both shocked and concerned by the material printed in the teen mags and decided that I should write this article to inform other parents of the content of them. The magazines I researched were; Bliss which is aimed at 14-17 year olds and Sugar which is aimed at 13-19 year olds, considering the graphic and persuasive nature of the content of these magazines, this seems, to me, to be an inappropriate age range. Advertisement Archive The magazines are over-spilling with desirable products, which is yet another attraction for teenage girls. On average the magazines contain 17. 5% of advertisements of up-to-date fashion items such as clothes, shoes and fragrances. Some of the products are far too expensive for a teen budget; endless pages of shoes and make-up are sending the wrong signals to impressionable young girls. It tells them that expensive frocks and loads of make-up is what they should have to be in. How many of you have heard the line but mum I need it all my friends have got one. Why? Because like their friends they have been influenced by the media and manipulated into thinking they need named brands to look and feel good. Cheaper high street brands have been advertised more frequently on television, these magazines should adopt the same tactic. This would make teenagers feel more comfortable wearing high street brands and prevent parents from feeling inadequate for not being able to provide the latest Gucci handbag. Real Life Horrors I was kidnapped and sold to a brothel Bliss December 2006 My midnight escape from a sick cult Sugar December 2006; these are just some of the shocking headlines which featured in the magazines I looked at. Is this the kind of literature you thought your daughter was reading? These are not the kind of real issues I would have thought of as appropriate for the 13 year old readers of these magazines. Some of the stories I read, including the ones I have already mentioned, incorporated some vulgar and sometimes quite disturbing details such as as I came round, I vomited on the floor. My head hurt and I was bleeding between my legs the story continued along the same lines in a very descriptive manner. Stories such as these rarely occur in real life and are scare mongering, and can be very disturbing for young readers. These articles do often include help lines enabling teenagers to contact an adult, however I think it highly unlikely that these articles would relate to an average British teenage girl. Though these stories are not stories that teenage girls relate to, they seem very interested in them. This makes me very uncomfortable as a parent and as a child psychologist as I find it difficult to associate the interest in such horrendous articles, to the other interests of the average teenager. I think that stories that relate to the more common occurrences in a teenagers lifes, such as sporting achievements and charities, which they could get involved in would be more appropriate. Picture Perfect All the magazines feature flawless models, dressed to impress on the front covers, with headlines such as 184 a-list model looks and sexiest party fashion. To my 14-year-old daughter and young girls like her, these images are ones that they aspire to. With pictures coupled with the headlines, the covers entice them into the materialistic fashion obsessed world of the a-list celeb. The immaculate appearance of the models is simply not a realistic view of an average teenager, theyre even often air-brushed; the images portrayed could make young girls feel inadequate purely because of natural teenage blemishes. Maybe images of everyday teens would provide a more pragmatic outlook to ordinary girls. The covers are plastered in bright coloured text in varying fonts and offer various stereotypical girly gifts such as pink lip-glosses for that perfect pout. These eye-catching fonts and free gift offers draw the young reader in, encouraging them to buy the over-priced magazines. The magazines are about i 2. 50 each which I would consider to be fairly expensive for a teenager as they usually buy several of these magazines with their pocket money, which is typically in the region i 5 to i 10. To me, as a parent, such magazines would be more acceptable if they were at a more reasonable price and featured fewer stories about celebrities shocking secrets, and more about achievements and real issues.