Stereotypes in the Media

The representations of teenage girls by the media is usually different from reality. Movies, magazines and advertisements stereotype girls into different groups. The most common and followed stereotype of teenage girls is the popular "It Girl" who has perfect hair, clear skin, confident personalities and in-style fashion. This represents teenage girls to be involved with beauty and fashion as well as gossip and boys. People would say a "typical" girl. This is what the media wants us to think all teenage girls should be like in order to sell products and achieve high ratings. 

The types of media I have chosen to study point out that teenage girls are almost always represented by the average beautiful girl. Although they do have their own uniqueness's, each girl has certain characteristics and traits. Because teenagers are the targeted audience for my studied media, what they see impacts them and their society. The values shown in these types of media effect girls as they absorb most details shown. With all of the context of magazines, beauty advertisements and themes in the movies, gossip, fashion and beauty are shown as three important values a teenage girl should have. With the glamorous ways of The Bellas and The Plastics, to the cover girls and spokeswomen, a silent expectation of teenage girls has arisen. The creators of the media I have studied have skillfully crafted these values in a way which impacts society. They compare the local teenagers to the media's representation of them which puts pressure on the girls to act a certain way. 

In Mean Girls an Pitch Perfect, the reasons for creating such characters as The Plastics and The Bellas, was to show the change in their behavior once they stop judging everyone for what they do and just accepting them for who they are. I believe this i what reality is like. Yes there are some girls who consider themselves superior to everyone else but at school especially, there isn't one superior clique which dominates the year level but different cliques based on interest and mutual respect for each other.

The advertisements and magazines representations of teenage girls is close to reality of a celebrity but not for an average teenager. The reasons for they way the present teenage girls to us is so that they can sell their product. When we see a gorgeous girl using a certain product in a magazine or on the television we assume that the product works and therefore will work for everyone.

The impact which the media has on teenage girls and their societies impacts their way of life. 

Beauty Products Advertisements

                                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueZnDUDXlRE  

The Garnier BB Cream commercial advertises this product to be a "miracle skin perfecter" which renews your skin in an instant. The creator of this advert has used a "simple" approach by keeping everything plain which makes it look quite fresh. The simple language and slogans used makes it easy to understand what BB Cream is without going into any detail. There is no major colours or items shown which can distract us from the message they are trying to get across. One of the spokeswomen says "My skin, perfect. Just like that" while she snaps her fingers. It is a simple quote which gets straight to the point. This approach is effective as it enables their target audience, teenage girls, to truly understand that their product is user friendly and far from anything complicated. 
The choice of spokeswomen is very stereotypical towards teenage girls. The two girls who appear in this commercial present teenagers to have clear and bright skin. Even before the application of the BB Cream, the spokeswomen has smooth skin with very few blemishes. This is a false representation of teenage girls as there is many different types of skin in the teenage population which can not be instantly fixed with a layer of the Garnier BB Cream. This representation puts pressure on teenagers in our society to achieve the clarity we see in the spokeswomen's skin. The message which Garnier is trying to get across is that, if you use our miracle skin perfecter, your skin will look exactly like these models, clear and even, when in reality it will only supply minimum coverage. 
You will not instantly go from having skin like this:                          To looking like this: 




















I know that Garnier wants beautiful young girls to advertise their BB Cream in order to attract teenagers who are looking for an easy answer to covering their skin, but the consequences are that girls are beating themselves up because they don't have that photo-ready look once they have used this product. By representing teenage girls with models who have gorgeous complexions, issues in societies are rising as society is expecting more and more teenage girls to have clear skin, when in reality there are more girls struggling, fighting the battle against acne.
The perception of beauty which is presented to society and targeting teenage girls by the Garnier BB Cream commercial is a high step from reality. Girls are trying to make the jump to the next step by absorbing what they hear and see about this product. 
One layer and all your flaws will disappear. Nothing is quite this simple and because the media is presenting our exterior beauty to be this easy to expressed, they are influencing false expectations in societies against teenage girls. 

                                          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI_139PxdpU

Garnier is not the only brand of make-up which uses the beauty of their models to present their products. The Maybelline New York Superstay 14 hour Lipstick is advertised to be super-weightless, fade free and continuously glossy. Like Garnier, the creator of this advert has taken a "simple" approach to advertising this product. The background is white and the spokeswomen's attire is casual-dress. Because this lipstick is bright and the bold font matches the lipstick colour on the model, the white background enhances our vision to focus on the message Maybelline is trying to get across. It is simple and clear which makes it easy for Maybelline's audience, mostly teenage girls and young women, to understand their product. Their slogan, "It's a One-step Hit" compliments the approach of the creators as it is simple and sums up the idea of Maybelline's Superstay 14 hour Lipstick.
Maybelline uses the same approach as Garnier for advertising their product. With the simple theme for their advert it makes sense that the models presenting their products have effortless beauty. The girls have a natural look about them with their clear skin and even tones. This causes stereotypes to be made about women.  They are being represented by females with photo-ready skin and hair that falls perfectly when in reality not all women and teenage girls have the complexion of a Maybelline spokeswomen. Because the media is using specific women for advertisements, society's idea of women has high expectations of beauty. They compare them to what they see on these adverts which causes a certain pressure on women to constantly look their best without being over-the-top. Maybelline presents their product successfully as they use the stereotype of women created by the media to represent their audience in order to attract customers. 

Garnier and Maybelline represent their target audience, women and teenage girls, with the stereotypical spokeswomen, which effects the way society looks at this group with in themselves. Because they link a certain type of beauty with their products, society's expectation of women reflects the stereotype shown in their adverts. The difference between the representation of teenage girls (and women) shown by these products, and reality is that everyone is unique. Garnier BB Cream  and Maybelline Superstay Lipstick may not be the best products for everyone. By presenting their products with models that are photo-ready there is unnecessary pressure on women and girls to try and reach those beauty standards. The reality is that everyone has different skin, so Garnier BB Cream may not be suitable for certain skin types and Maybelline Superstay Lipstick shades might not match your skin tone. Just because the media represents women and teenage girls in this way, it does not mean that society needs to apply the pressure for them to match it.         

Teen Magazines

There are many magazines which are directed at teenage girls. A well-known teen read is Creme magazine. Creme magazine targets girls between the ages of 10-16 year old.  

Selena Gomez, Cover girl. Beautiful and talented, the perfect role model for young girls. Gomez is a young singer and actress who inspires and motivates young teenage girls worldwide and its this representation which allows her to be successful in her work. She is a good cover girl for Creme as the readers will respond positively to her appearance on the cover. Young girls aspire to be like Gomez for her "girl next door" vibe. She has the beauty (clear skin, rich hair, slim build), no doubt the brains with all of her talents, and the innocence that all parents want their young girls to look up to. When has there ever been anything negative in the media about Selena Gomez? Maybe this is because of all the pressure society has put on her to live up to her stereotype. For her to cross the line from innocence to mildly wild would cause a big dent in her fan base. Teenagers see her as the ultimate girl. Because she is still only young and closely aged to us teenagers, the idea of reaching her heights does not seem like it is out of the question. We look at her and thrive to be like her. The image she has created for herself is positively influencing young girls away from the nasty stereotypes shown elsewhere in the media. 

By casting Gomez as their cover girl, Creme has immediately drawn the attention of young teenage girls to their magazine. Although she is an inspiring role model, we instantly know that this magazine is going to be the typical "girl mag" with all things fashion, boys, and gossip. With the bright colours and quirky fonts to attract their readers, the design of the cover alongside the main image of Gomez holds the attraction of a bubbly girl interested in all that this magazine beholds. The articles within the magazine are outlined with various titles such as "Music Madness", "Babe Alert", Advice, best beauty buys. Automatically we know that the content of Creme is sleep-over material, so to speak. They have chosen articles which they assume young teenagers want to read and learn about. Stereo typically you would assume that most girls want to read about this stuff, but that may not be true. I remember when I was a couple of years younger, I thought I needed to read this kind of material and that it was an important part of being a girl, getting your Creme mag out and reading all the gossip about celebrities and boys, when really I wasn't at all interested. Many girls have the same issue as I did. They think that because every other girl enjoys reading about gossip, boys, and fashion, that they have to aswell. Because many of the Creme readers are not actually interested in the items provided, but think this is what they should be wanting to read so they buy it anyway. Creme believes that their audience wants to know all about their articles so they therefore continue to publish the same kind. This is where it is confusing. I'll break it down:

- Creme publishes articles about boys, gossip, make-up and fashion.
- Teenage girls buy this magazine to fit in with all the other girls because they think it's "cool" to do it.
- Creme gets the idea that young girls enjoy reading this material so they continue to publish it.

Statistics taken from this magazine show that the most frequent type of article which features in this magazine is Advice. There are Five different advice articles in this issue alone. Other statistics include three articles about beauty, three about relationships i.e friendships, boyfriends, and eleven articles about "other" categories which include advertisements for make-up, skin care, clothing etc. and crafts ideas. 

This is how the theme of Creme would have started and now it is stereotyped as "a girls best friend". This stereotype represents young teenage girls to be bubbly, gossip girls, and to have fashion awareness. This representation affects teenage girls by influencing them with their articles and advertisements. Because Creme is subjected to young girls, and only contain certain content, it is easy for teenagers to be influenced to think and act a certain way. For example, one of the articles is about Babe Alert: Austin Butler. This article expresses the world wide obsession with Austin Butler. Because Creme is devoting an article especially for Butler, their readers are going to think that he is something special and will start to talk and gloat about him, maybe because they truly have a celeb crush on him, or maybe it's because he is in the magazine. They have provided guidance for the way young girls think. Because the girls are being influenced by the articles, their values and beliefs will start to develop as they get older around the basis of Creme magazine. They may not even realise that these articles have such an impact on them. Before they know it, when they are faced with a decision they will confront their latest Creme mag to seek advice and assurance of their choice. Because Creme influences girls decision making like this, the stereotype which comes with this magazine is seen in reality. Quirky girls who love to gossip about celebrities and boys, fashion lovers and advice addicts. Society will catch on to the craze of Creme magazine, and will start to stereotype all girls under this representation which the media has created of young teenage girls. This will cause people to judge girls who are not in to the girly scene as an outcast in society. It is as if the magazine is saying, if you don't like me, we won't like you. The way that society, especially young teenage boys, look at girls will be based on magazines such as Creme. 
Imagine a magazine with dark Gothic people on the front, gloomy font highlighting the articles inside to be filled of punk rock music, "dark"magic, and advertising the latest leather gear. If this magazine became extremely popular the way Creme is among young teenage girls, their stereotype would differ because their representation has changed. What ever is on trend among young teenage girls will influence their stereotype and therefore their values, beliefs and actions. 

Selena Gomez is an amazing role model for this era of time. Because Creme magazine has provided a cover girl who is such an inspiration to young teenage girls, they are presenting a stereotype of simple elegance and talent to aspire from. The look that Selena has compliments the articles within the magazine creating a strong girly trend . She is beautiful, which compliments the talk of beauty products and advice, she is talented and well known, enabling them to include articles about the up and coming bands and whats happening on the screens, and mostly shes a girl. This representation of girls influences society and comes relatively close to young teenagers in reality.

Like Creme, every women magazine has a picture perfect cover girl. They are all glamorous and glowing. Yes, they are beautiful women, but the fact is that the majority of magazines use photo shop to perfect the features of their cover girl. Some people wonder why they do this when their cover girls are already stunning. By using photo shop to trim down their arms and legs, flatten their stomachs, smooth over blemishes and uneven skin tones, and enhance all their curves and angles, the cover girls look younger, fresher and even more gorgeous than before. Not only is it in women magazines that we see the extreme use of photo shop but also in magazines such as Creme, which targets young teenage girls. 

Example of the "Digital Beauty" which Media
Presents to Society

The media changes the perception of beauty for women of all ages, especially teenagers. Girls look at cover girls and their perfect complexion, wishing they could have similar features and to be considered as beautiful as them. If they have a computer and can work photo shop they can achieve this look, but only in pictures. It is all digital. Our role models and inspirations are represented by the digital images the media chooses to display. The media is presenting the stereotypical beautiful women which puts pressure on society and young teenagers to live up to this stereotype. Magazines are giving out the impression that you can not be beautiful unless you have the "cover girl" look. This influences teenage girls to go after various beauty products that are advertised to "make your skin glow" in order to achieve this look.
We are given this perception of beauty by more than most magazines available to us. Society is influenced to think beauty is what you see on the cover. The pressure that this puts on women and teenage girls is unnecessary and heavy. Because the image they presented as beautiful, the media influences many girls to change themselves. This is a negative consequence on society. Girls go through so much trouble trying to better their appearances and become slender that some may start to cause harm to their health. Because the girls can't reach that level of beauty with out digital touch-ups, many become depressed and some even develop eating disorders. 


The reality of beautiful women and teenage girls is very different than their representation by magazines. In reality, it does not matter if your skin tone is uneven or if your face is not symmetrical, beauty comes from within. It is a very unique trait to carry as no one's beauty is the same as someone else. Although you may not feel like your appearance is welcoming from others, you are beautiful in your own way and I think this is what the media needs to focus on portraying. It isn't all about having the perfect complexion but about how you present yourself as an individual and express your own beauty.