| Seventeen |
|
| Editor |
Atoosa Rubenstein |
| Categories |
Teen |
| Frequency |
monthly |
|
Publisher
|
Hearst Corporation |
| First Issue |
1944 |
| Country |
United States |
| Language |
English |
| Website |
seventeen.com |
| ISSN |
unknown |
Seventeen is an American young women's magazine targeted at the teenage group. It was first published in 1944 and is today considered by many to be the most popular magazine for teenage girls although it faces growing competition. Its editor in chief is Atoosa Rubenstein.
Twiggy on the now famous cover of
Seventeen
Its content includes fashion and what stores to look for the latest trends, celebrities, beauty that includes how to take care of your skin, different hair styles, and make-up wearing advice, lifestyle advice, a nutrition section that includes healthy foods to eat and how to maintain your weight, a sex and body section, and horoscopes. It also includes quizzes about yourself and your love life. Its tone is light and positive, and is sometimes considered focused on white teens, although the editors are believed to be consciously broadening the content. The article length is kept deliberately brief, high quality photographs emphasize regular celebrity and clothing themes and it is well supported by advertising keen to reach the big-spending demographic of young women.
Founded by Walter Annenberg, the newspaper publisher, it remained in his control for many decades through Triangle Publications until he sold the group to Rupert Murdoch. The magazine was sold in 1991 during Murdoch's debt crisis to the KKR controlled Primedia company. The poor performance of Primedia, prompted the sale of Seventeen magazine to The Hearst Corporation, one of the world's biggest media conglomerates founded by William Randolph Hearst for $182.4 million.
One of the magazine's international editions is the Philippine version published by Summit Media.
In the November 2006 issue, Teddy Geiger will serve as the cover model, and he will be the first male cover in five years.
Miss Seventeen
As a promotion for the magazine, MTV and Seventeen Magazine created a reality show contest called Miss Seventeen that would be shown on MTV. They picked 17 girls from around the United States who were not only photogenic but also had been at the top of their class, to provide a role model for young women. The girls were flown to New York, where they would take part in a contest similar in format to The Apprentice — they would be given tasks to be done by Atoosa, and in each episode one of the girls would be eliminated from the competition. The winner would get her face on the cover of Seventeen magazine, a college scholarship and would be offered an internship job on the magazine.
The criteria for elimination were not only performing poorly — Atoosa was watchful of how the girls talked when no one else was in the room, via cameras set up around the house. In this manner, she could watch the girls with their guards down and see what their real motivations and dreams were. In one elimination, for example, Atoosa sat down with the girl and explained that she didn't feel that the girl was in the contest for the 'right' reasons — video clips were shown to the viewers which showed the girl talking to her other roommates and explaining that she was more interested in the face-time she would get for being part of an MTV show.
Where the format differed from other shows was in the first elimination round and in how the contestants found out who was eliminated. In the first episode, all 17 girls sat around the dinner table with Atoosa and had to describe in brief who they were and what they hoped they would get out of the experience. Based on this conversation, Atoosa eliminated 7 of the girls from the contest. The way the girls would generally find out who was eliminated was by sitting around a TV as Atoosa would talk to them, telling them the results of the tasks they were given. The TV screen would then display the names of the girls who would be staying in the house, written in cursive form. The girl whose name didn't appear on 'The List' was eliminated, and met with Atoosa to hear her reasoning for why she was eliminated.
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
In the final episode, Jennifer Steele was declared the winner, with her magazine cover unveiled in Times Square. It was also revealed that Brianne Burrowes, who voluntarily left the show in an early episode of the series, was offered a job by Atoosa and will be working with Jennifer in their respective internships at the magazine.
Spoilers end here.
The show ran in America from October 17, 2005 - December 19, 2005.
See also
- Unish Kuri, India's no 1 teens' magazine
External links
- Official Website of Seventeen Magazine
- Seventeen magazine news at gawker.com
- MTV Website for Miss Seventeen Show
Categories: American magazines | Teens' magazines | 1944 establishments
