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.
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| 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.
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