To what extent should magazines be held responsible for the social ramifications of the representations they offer?

Magazines aimed at teenagers are the ones that are more likely to mould the image of then next generation. Young teenagers through to young adults are more likely to be effected by the discrimination of body image, hair colour and clothing do or don’ts therefore leading to major problems like eating disorders and bankruptcy Magazines like the ones shown above are aimed at younger people shown by the use of colour, featured article and the model used. Models like Cher and Taylor Swift are the young teenaged girls idea of a perfect person.

Magazines want to make the most amount of money possible. Therefore, they don’t really take into account the damage that they are doing to the youth. If a teenage girl saw a magazine plug that told her that she could get the boy of her dreams in three easy steps then why wouldn’t she pick it up and see. The problem is a majority of the time the people giving the advice are not professionals or they are very inexperienced meaning the heath implications of the article could create really bad effects. Especially if the article includes exercise, Dietary information or clothing lines.

On the front of the Bliss magazine with Cher on there is a plug that says ‘Why I had a boob job at 16’ this magazine is widely available to all ages. This may lead to a rise in young teens feeling as if they need to change there looks to look perfect. Therefore in response of this there is a rise in teens becoming more sexualized A study by watchdog for the Telegraph said Bliss magazine, whose readers have an average age of 15, features on the front of this month's issue the cover lines "The Sex Factor, your questions answered on p46" and "Gang raped– for a mobile phone. Also saying- A study by The Sunday Telegraph of several magazines aimed at teenage girls found that they contained sexually-explicit material which was potentially in breach of the industry's editorial code. If this is true and in fact the study that the telegraph carried out is correct then that could mean that readers as young as 11 are learning and reading about sex and things involving it. There is now a recommendation scheme set up by Reg Bailey and the government that includes things like-

·      Putting age restrictions on music videos to prevent children buying sexually explicit videos and guide broadcasters over when to show them

·      Covering up sexualized images on the front pages of magazines and newspapers so they are not in easy sight of children.

·      Banning the employment of children under 16 as brand ambassadors and in peer-to-peer marketing, and improving parents’ awareness of advertising and marketing techniques aimed at children

I would like to see less of this perfect image. Although the idea of a size 0 model is slowly fading I still think most girls idolize cover girls from a young age, which can cause bad decisions. Promoting a more healthy weighted and a more diverse group of cover girls could maybe lead to the decline in eating disorders.