OSP: Teen Vogue - background and textual analysis

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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 Donald Trump article about 'Gaslighting America' is what made the website be seen as more 'serious and political'

2) When was the original Teen Vogue magazine launched and what was its original content?

  • Teen Vogue was launched in 2004 
  • its primary focus surrounded "standard cocktail fashion must-haves" and "celebrity worship"- this made it seem like a typical 'teen girl' media text

3) How did editor Elaine Welteroth change Teen Vogue’s approach in 2015?

  • In 2015, Welteroth published an  issue that included three unknown black models on the front cover
4) How many stories are published on Teen Vogue a day? What topics do they cover?

  • 50-70 Teen Vogue stories are published a day.
  • These cover a mix of fashion, entertainment and current affairs. 

5) What influence did digital director Phillip Picardi have over the editorial direction?

  • Picardi had a positive influence over the editorial edition and  decided that the magazine "needed more" 
  • the magazine went on to talk about topics such as reproductive rights, gender and politics which led the reader count to hit 10 million 

6) What is Teen Vogue’s audience demographics and what does ‘woke’ refer to?

  • Teen Vogue's audience isn't only teens. 
  • They aim for readers aged 18-24 ( young progressive women)
  • has a gender non-specific audience that is progressive/ woke
  • woke - a slang term derived from African American culture to suggest social awareness 

7) What issues are most important to Teen Vogue readers?

  • issues such as identity that covers beauty tips to empower the readers with political intelligence aswell as careers advice to focus on young progressive and success seeking readers 

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?

  • The relationship between the magazine and the reader has become more personal and 'relatable'.
  • This links to Clay Shirky because he suggested that "Every consumer is also a producer, and everyone can talk back" and in terms of Teen Vogue and its readers, we can see that  the content  is based on the opinions of the readers 

9) What social and political issues have been covered successfully by Teen Vogue?

political issues covered:

  • trumps election 
  • black lives matter movement
social issues covered:

  • sexual identity
  • breaking societal norms
 10) What do Teen Vogue readers think of the magazine and website?

  • the readers think the website is reliable and isn't scared of social prejudice


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?
  • Menu bar (focul points of the website)
  • Adverts
  • Search bar
  • Teen Vogue daily newsletter subscription
  • Social media ( bottom of the website)
2) How does the page design encourage audience engagement?

  • the page design is of a minimal amount and isn't very crowded unlike other online magazines which makes it more niche
  • the minimal style makes it easier for readers to read and understand 
  • the inclusion of images helps make the articles more engaging 

3) Where does advertising appear on the homepage?

  • advertising appears on the top half of the homepage and on the right-hand side 

4) What are the items in the top menu bar and what does this tell you about the content of Teen
Vogue?

  • style
  • politics
  • culture
  • identity 
  • summit
  • though there are some elements of fashion and aesthetic the website wants to focus on education more to influence younger people 

5) How far does the homepage scroll down? How many stories appear on the homepage in total?

  • the homepage scrolls down significantly far and has a wide range of stories
  • 18 stories on the homepage 

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?

  • Health
  • sex
  • relationships
  • wellness
  • horoscope
  • lifestyle
  • voices

2) How is the Lifestyle section designed to encouragement audience engagement? Think about page design, images, text and more.

  • minimalist/ niche style- makes the readers feel more comfortable reading it
  • the unique art styles are progressive and different which makes audiences want to read on 
  • conventions such as - mastheads and subheadings etc...
  • relateable/aspirational content young readers would engage with such as decor and travelling

3) What do you notice about the way headlines are written in Teen Vogue

  •  they appear on right of the image instead of above it
4) What does the focus on education, university and ‘campus life’ tell you about the Teen Vogue audience demographics and psychographics?
  • Demographics: ABC1-- young university attendees 
  • Psychographics: Mainstreamer, aspirer, succeeder, explorer and reformer.
5) Choose three stories featured in the Lifestyle section – why do they fit the Teen Vogue brand?

  • Dorm Decor That Will Make Your New Room Feel Like Home- helping young success seeking Univerisity people 
  • Three Cities We Have Our Eyes On- those who want to travel and build a career path internationally
  • Snag These Back-to-School Amazon Prime Deals Before It's Too Late- relatable, being cost-efficient 
Five key articles

Read the following five notable Teen Vogue features then answer the questions below for EACH feature.

Donald Trump Is Gaslighting America
The new face of teen activism
Black Teens Have Been Fighting for Gun Reform for Years
Netflix and strong female leads
How to Break Away From the Gender Binary

For each article:

1) Who is the writer and what is the article about?

  • Lauren Duca 
  •  Donald Trump manipulating Americans.
  • Alexis Manrodt
  • teenagers becoming the more prominent figures in activism 
  • Lincoln Anthony Blades 
  • teenagers who have been fighting against gun violence for years being ignored until the  Stoneman Douglas High School shooting 
  • De Elizabeth
  •  strong female leads and finding a reflection of yourself in movies and TV shows (representations). 
  • Samantha Riedel (transgender)
  • breaking away from the gender binary and becoming gender fluid. 




2) How does the article use narrative to engage the reader? Try and apply narrative theory here if possible.

  • the article uses Propp's theory and the writer describes Trump as being the "villain" of this story. They make America look like the princesses in this article aswell  
  • the article uses Todorov Theory of Equilibrium: Physical activism - marches, picket signs, sit-ins, disequilibrium: unable to go to marches and sit-ins because of the travel distance, their age, etc and aNew equilibrium: Online activism - the internet, social media, tweets, hashtags, blogs, communities. 
  • the use of Roland Barthes enigma codes (why shootings can be positive)
  • celebrity appeal engages audiences as it shows the relatable 'woke' ideologies
  • villanisng 'cis' people and making babies and young impressionable people the 'princesses' (propp)


3) Why is this article significant?

  • it had over 1 million reads and was so politically passive-aggressive 
  • it talks about the effects of the digital age in the world and the power it has to make a difference 
  • taking action on present gun violence in America
  • talks about how society and representations  are changing and the media is becoming more progressive
  • reflects LGBTQ rights and uses a transgender writer to personally communicate first-hand experiences 


4) How does this article reflect the values and ideologies of the modern Teen Vogue?

  • Teen Vogue voices its "anti-trump" views clearly
  • teen vogue push on activist rights and speaking out 
  • TV are a proxy for young people so speaking up about such prominent issues is a good representation of their ideologies 
  • TV is also a huge advocate for equality and representations to reflect real-time cosmopolitan society
  • TV being PRO-LGBTQ+

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