Teen Vogue CSP Research

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Media Language

The conventions of this media product is used to influence meaning. They use their conventions to present their values of the world and what they find important such as politics and the wellbeing of their audience. Even though it might conjure up images of ultra-feminised vapidity but it has become highly politicised and socially engaged. Teen Vogue is also a large part of the fashion industry. Their content and advertising is designed to create a strong desire in their audience for products featured. The logo builds on the heritage of Vogue magazine but the rest of the page signifies how different the product is from the print-based parent title. 

In the menu bar, Teen Vogue covers a large variety of topics which attract a large audience. Headings are presented in sans-serif typeface making it feel more stylised, youthful and modern. It also gives them a certain gravitas and authority. The choice of red, black and grey accenting on the page is stylish and not overtly genderised. As there is no dated elements, it lends the product an aura of trustworthiness as quality in media production leads to audience  trust.

Teen Vogue also uses semiotics to construct a narrative of their views of the world. Teen Vogue has used young faces which signifies youth. They also have adult content about politics which signifies intelligence. Teen Vogue also presents a variety of races which signifies equality. They also do not necessarily have biased posts and they mainly just inform which signifies freedom.

Teen Vogue uses content of lifestyle to demonstrate genre conventions such as convergence and identity.

Teen Vogue presents a realistic view of the world by containing a variety of different contents. It also shows that the world is constantly changing with various different dynamic aspects.

Media Representations

The choice of this online product provides a wide range of representational issues. These include the representation of the target audience of young women in the US but also globally. The focus on representation will build on work done in the analysis of visual images and can also be used to explore target audiences and ideological readings.
  • Teenage girls are presented through a web of stereotyping and patriarchy. Often they are presented as vapid, bitchy and cliquey and they seem to only be worthy of representation when they are attractive. Teen Vogue is subversive; its parent publication has a history of abusing teenage representation and its own history was based on representing narrow concepts of teenage girl identity. 
  • Teen Vogue constructs these representations to present diversity. The producers encode a lot of different races so that the audience will decode relatable and a more generalisable context from articles. (Hall)
  • Teen Vogue use a lot of content of powerful women of different races such as Michelle Obama to give their young female audience a powerful role model. They represent females as wise and strong.
  • Teen Vogue subverts stereotypes as they do not make teenage girls seem the way that other media products have made them seem. They present a more realistic view of teenage girls by providing a load of different types of teenage girls.
  • Teen Vogue uses its stories to construct a particular representation of the work and particular groups and places in it by including generalisable content.

Media Industries

Teen Vogue is a commercial media product but could also be seen as fulfilling a public service through its political reporting and social campaigns. The website also demonstrates the way that publishing institutions have developed their reach through new technology and convergence.
  • Teen Vogue's web and social media sites show how institutions respond to changes in consumption. The online version of the magazine reinvented itself but shifted to the margins in order to become more relevant to its target audience. 
  • They also post on insta to keep up with the digital natives and therefore keep up with todays audience. They also have 6 million facebook likes and people interact with Teen Vogue via these social platforms.

Media Audiences

Teen Vogue provides an example of a clearly targeted, primary audience through demographics of gender and age which should encourage the study of issues of identity. Related to this would be a discussion of the changing relationship between producers and audiences in the context of participatory media.

Shirky calls the 'fluidity' of digital media means that audience can source and share news in different ways.
  • Mass media is where public communication reaches a large audience. A minority audience is one that does not correlate to population. A specialised audience is how media producers construct audiences.
  • Teen Vogue targets its specialised audience through its varied content and uses of different types of people presented on the site.
  • The audience may find it easier to relate to content in Teen Vogue's website as it does not necessarily go along with stereotypes which goes against Halls reception theory. However, sometimes the stereotypes are accurate and therefore the audience may not all be able to relate.
  • Teen Vogue gives opportunities of interaction via social platforms and subscriptions.

Social, Political, Cultural and Economic Contexts

Teen Vogue is culturally significant in its marrying of the political with fashion and lifestyle to target a young female audience more traditionally seen as interested in more superficial issues. Its explicit feminist stance and reporting on the trump presidency has made it a relatively radical voice in the  context of mainstream US media. The social and economic contexts can be addressed in terms of how the product has been received and how it has succeeded when other magazines are struggling to maintain audiences.

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