Magazine - Essay

To what extent should magazines be held responsible for the social ramifications of the representations they offer?  

Magazines don't just present reality, they represent it. They construct our views from what we are reading and how we interpret it. But do we take in the realism of what we are being represented? and that we are just taking in the views of the producers?

Representations can have fundamental effect on personal behavior, this is all through the messages that the magazine construct.

In many magazines they have a very bold ways of presenting the genre of magazine. Because magazines are read internationally what ever they publish will be see and people will be inflected by what they are exposed to, it has a very big influence on many people especially the younger generations.

In britain we read thousands of magazines each day. According to industry data an average of 2,600 magazines are sold every minute in the UK.Telling us how we should look,what we should wear, how to act and whats see as right and wrong. For example lots of trends that have started today have been what people have seen through magazines, and then gone out and copied. By having celebrities in magazines give people role models to be influenced by so they would then start copying them. Celebrities are represented to almost be superior than normal everyday people, a higher status. This is why we have so many ,especially the young, inspiring to be like them.

Magazines are constantly injecting us with there own representations, which we then absorb and then release into how we are in society.
' 78% of teens read magazines '
The majority of teenagers read large amounts of magazines today, this is having huge impact on they way they are acting in modern society. The magazines are portraying images which is showing teenagers what is viewed as acceptable and unacceptable in society. For example its very common now days for many young teenage girls to have insecurities about there appearance. This is from the images they are being shown I'm magazines such as Vogue, Heat, Closer and many more. They see people being criticised if they are abit curvier than before or if they are as skinny as another person, then next theres people being slated for being to skinny. Its sending out mixed messages and signs. Such years ago we had models in magazine who where curvy and that was seen a beautiful, people like Marilyn Monroe. Looking back people felt a lot more comfortable in there own skin and where less image conscious. Nowadays we have models such as kate mosses who are so skinny you can see there bone structure, and its a rarity to see curvy models now. Which has shown why so many younger generations are wary of there 

appearance. As its see that you are only pretty if you are skinny like the people in all the glossy magazines. 

As you look across each of the magazine covers aimed at teenage girls you will notice that the conventions of each magazines are all pretty much based the same.

For example the majority of the models on the front covers are white. Clearly straight away this knocks the confidence of other raced girls out there as they are portraying one type of girl, not showing the diversity of other women out there. It just shows one images and is like that is what you should look like, its forgetting that there is a wide range of different styled girls.

 Magazines portray a very typical out look of girls this can be shown through the color schemes of the magazines. Such as the front pages of all the magazines are all pink ,purple and yellows all giving feminine associations. They don't show a range of colours, this almost brain washes teenage girls into thinking that they have to be the colours to like. Also they tend to use lots of floral prints through out the magazines this connotes the flower being like a girl, flowers being very delicate,sensitive and calm almost saying thats how girls should act.  

As you look through teen magazines you will notice one thing that frequently comes up, ways to help get you a boyfriend. Almost 70% of teenage magazines aimed at girls contain something about getting a boyfriend. ‘5 ways to bag yourself a boyfriend’ ‘say good by to single’ ‘Follows these steps to get yourself a boyfriend’. Girls are being bombarded with headlines telling them to get a boyfriend, this then is putting pressured on young teens to go and find relationships. This then can cause girls to feel insecure about themselves if they don't have one as they could think that it is bad to not have one, that its something to do with how they look or act causing them to change. The effect of this is causing people to become shallow and  that everything is based on appearance. Also it also give a negitive stigma to homosexuals as it only focusing on girls liking boys, ignoring the fact that not all girl like boys. Magazine companies used all these different techniques to get girl to purchase there magazines. They see them as a way to make money, exploiting them 

for there own financial benefit.

I feel that publishers should take more consideration in what they are printing, also to think about the impact it is having on its readers and how its effecting them. Also to use a wider range of diverse factors, such as models and colour schemes.