YM--Just Plain Bad!
Written: Mar 20 '02
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Pros: Found a nifty, new website to visit while thumbing past one of the endless ads???
Cons: Ads, ads, mostly inane articles, potentially dangerous articles. Did I mention Ad's?
The Bottom Line: Shallow articles, too much advertising and little real information make this one magazine to skip. Save your time and money!
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| erinrounds's Full Review: YM Magazine |
Editorial Disclaimer-
I AM NOT A PRUDE! Let's just get this out of the way right at the beginning of this review in case you were wondering. I am pretty casual, left-leaning Mom that isn't that old. I sprang forth from liberal loins and was raised with plenty of openness and love. Watching Britney (Spears) roll around with a snake on MTV doesn't keep me up at night. I laughed (probably way too much) at American Pie. I own lingerie (and use it too). You get the idea. I am quite arguably a dork, but not a prude. Now with that said, it was in my pursuit of keeping hip (being dorky again) that I hopped on the chance to sign up for a free subscription to YM magazine. I saw some of the featured cover celebrities that interested me, and remembered fondly back to when I used to get YM as a teen, (see I told you I wasn't that old) and looked forward to getting my first freebie.
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The Magazine-
O.K. by now you might have figured out that I really, really didn't care for this magazine. I found it was an interesting dichotomy, in that it is much too flighty and shallow to hold the attention of an older audience, but it's much too mature in it's advertising and subject matter (in my opinion) for it's target audience. I took the target audience to be about 10-15 years old. I judged this by the ages given on the majority of the letters published by the magazine in my most recent copies. I also gathered from the short, easily read articles that they are writing down to it's readers. Clearly not the caliber of writing even featured in Seventeen or the wry, acerbic wit you'll encounter in Jane. Both better selections for a "true" teenager (again in my opinion).
The Ad's-
While advertising is obviously how publications make money, clearly some magazines do it more than others. This seems to be one of those examples. April 2002 had 124 pages of ad's, excluding the back cover and the half page ad's and strip ad's that appear on some pages next to the copy. This in a 214 page magazine, yikes! You have to wade through 22 pages of ad's to even come to the table of contents, no kidding. The content of said, numerous, ad's run the gamut from the purely innocuous deodorant and lotions available at drugstores everywhere to the very high end cosmetics like Chanel and designers like XOXO and Guess. The one good thing to come out of the advertising (and the magazine for that matter) was that I found K-Swiss had an online website.
The Content-
It seems the style here is short and sweet. Most articles save the fashion layout and cover subject's interviews are 2 pages maximum. Some are mere paragraphs long. There are regular features like an Editor's page, Letters, Beauty, and so on.
I did find a few interesting pieces on a few subjects in this issue. Mainly, considering the size of the magazine, it was slim-pickings, but here's a few examples.
-Diary Section There was a profile article on contortionists in training at the Circus Center that was informative, albeit not too deep.
-Stars Section I Dated An MTV V-Jay is pretty self explanatory. They went on a date with a cameraman, how romantic.
-Stories Section Here we profile a young girl that has spent roughly $10,000 and dedicates her life to stalking boy band N'Sync. Excellent idea to profile something like this for young, impressionable girls to see. You mean if I waste all this money I too can be in a magazine some day? Hmm, why hadn't I thought of this sooner.
Now we get to the article I found downright scary for young girls to read. Also in the same Stories Section as the last example. We meet a 16 year old named Frankee a.ka. Krystle (she changed her name to emulate her idol Marilyn Manson). She also attempted suicide by cutting her neck, arms and legs in the tub after finding out her "idol" was engaged. Eeek, where do I start with this one. It's a sad story, and exploitative to start with, but also a terrible example for kids to read about. Although to be fair she appears to be O.K. now.
In addition to the articles scattered in the magazine there are several fashion layouts you'll find comparable to the spreads featured in their "adult" counterparts like Glamour or Redbook. The April issue features a road trip spread with many casual outfits and a 60's retro spread. (Are they back again?)
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My Final Thoughts-
To be honest, I am not sure what's more disappointing; this magazine or the fact that there is a market for it.
I did find a few readable articles amidst the advertising blitz, but they were so few and far between it was hardly worth it. The tidbits of beauty hints and fashion advice sprinkled around might also prove helpful to teens that haven't already heard it before. The overall vibe I've gotten from YM was that of advertising slickly disguised as a magazine for teens. Certainly something you can pass up without losing a moments worry that you're missing anything. If your teen (or you) want a better magazine for young girls try Seventeen or Teen People.
Thanks for reading my rant!
=) Erin
Recommended:
No
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