Thirteen Going On Seventeen- A Brief History of the Magazine that Told Us if He Liked Us and What Complements Our Bodies

photo credit to senventeen

I loved Seventeen Magazine growing up. I looked at it every issue in hopes that there'd be a new quiz that would tell me who my celebrity soul mate was, or a tragic article that ended in "DRUGS ARE BAD." I have to admit I didn't pick this magazine on purpose, I picked solely because I was surprised to see that my college roommate still read it, and it was the only magazine I could find in the room. I was excited to see Miranda Cosgrove on the cover, having a guilty pleasure addiction to iCarly. The headline next to Miranda’s well made up face says, in white which is highlighted by her brunette hair, “I want people to see the real me”- Miranda Cosgrove. At the top the magazine reads, “PSSST…You Could Be On The Cover!” As seen in these two quotes Seventeen’s main persuasive technique is Plain Folks.

Seventeen focuses on teenagers ages 13-19, despite the name Seventeen. They attract these readers with popping headlines, and by catering to all girls of these ages. In away you could say the magazine plays “the race card”. The magazine does that by featuring many different women of different ages, and cultures. In conjunction to playing the race card, they also play what I like to call the weight card. The weight card is catering to all different sizes, there are articles in the magazine about what one should wear when over weight, easy exercises to help stay healthy, and stories from those who have struggled being overweight.

Picture of different races featured on the Seventeen website.

Seventeen makes the regular girl seem like a celebrity, and a celebrity seem like just a regular girl. They do this by having articles, much like the Miranda Cosgrove one, talking about how normal her everyday life is. This makes the girls think, “wow, she’s just like me!” They make girls seem like celebrities by featuring everyday girls questions, and pictures in the magazine. This is the maybe persuasive technique. Page 132 of this issue is splattered with personal stories of amazing things that happened to girls around the world, the headline of the article reads, “What are the odds? If this crazy stuff could happen to these readers, it could happen to you, too!” This is another technique employed by Seventeen, the maybe persuasion technique, maybe if this reader enters this sweepstakes, she can be a star! This could be you on the cover of Seventeen if you just write a good enough paper on why it should be.

I have to admit. I gave in. I’ve read the magazine, I’ve looked up the clothes I should get for this spring, I entered a contest or two. Who knows, as Seventeen themselves says, if it happens to these readers, it could happen to me! Until I win the lottery, end up on the cover of Seventeen or get attacked by a mountain lion… I guess we’ll never know.

Seventeen got me to sign up for these sweepstakes by directing me to their website. The website, like their magazine is fun, upbeat and very eye catching. The site is filled with convergent media from youtube videos embedded on the site, to discussion forums for the plain folks to ask one another questions. Seventeen even has their own youtube channel. Their channel includes behind the scenes on cover shoots, make up tips and DIY tutorials.

DIY Video from Youtube.com

I was surprised to see the amount of work that was put into the website, having all of their main focuses outlined at the top; quizzes, games and fun; fashion; beauty; celebrities; love life; health; college life; and parties & prom. These tabs help to direct the teenager easily to the things she is interested in. I checked the site out from top to bottom and will admit I got sucked into the instant makeover generator. While searching for interesting things I found that on the bottom of the site you can sign into meebo, a web platform to IM on any network. I chose to sign into my facebook, twitter, and google talk. The access to this helped me to not be on the other sites, and focus solely on Seventeen; an extremely interesting strategy. I also found that for those who subscribe to the website, they also receive an electronic copy of the magazine, which is an analog to digital shift. I was really impressed all in all by the website, and the many different strategies that were used. That’s all for now, I’ll let you all know when I win all the sweepstakes, or maybe you should enter, after all it could be YOU on the cover of the next Seventeen.