Fashioning Teenagers: A Cultural History of Seventeen Magazine. Kelley Massoni. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2010. 256 pp.
Walk into any shopping mall and you’ll see a variety of stores peddling merchandise aimed at teenagers—clothing, jewelry, music, etc. Although this focus on teen consumers might seem like the recent brainchild of a savvy marketing guru, its roots can actually be traced to a magazine.
When Seventeen made its debut in 1944, it was the first publication to recognize the potential of the teenage population, specifically, teenage girls. The magazine was initially created to provide information to teen readers who, up to that point, had no such written material produced specifically for them. The promotion of the magazine ultimately prompted an awareness of this population on the part of marketers and merchandisers, which led to the creation of an industry catering to their retail needs.
In Fashioning Teenagers: A Cultural History of Seventeen Magazine, Kelley Massoni traces the history of Seventeen magazine and explores the impact the publication had on the development of the teen consumer market. A sociology lecturer at the University of Kansas, Massoni published articles related to Seventeen in several academic journals prior to the release of her book. In this work, Massoni discusses the creation of the publication and shows its evolution as both a magazine as well as a retail influence over the years.
Fashioning Teenagers begins with an explanation of how Seventeen came into existence. The publication started with an idea from magazine veteran Helen Valentine, who believed teenagers were not recognized as viable readers by the publishing industry. She convinced publisher Walter Annenberg to take a chance on reaching out to the untapped teen market by launching a magazine that would specifically address their needs. Annenberg liked the idea and hired Valentine to serve as Seventeen’s first editor-in-chief, a position she held for six years.
Massoni’s early chapters talk about the philosophy behind the magazine and the approach taken to reach out to the teen market. Chapter 2, for example, includes a letter from Valentine, which appeared in the premiere issue and outlined the focus of the magazine.
“SEVENTEEN is your magazine, High School Girls of America—all yours!” she wrote. “It is interested only in you—and in everything that concerns, excites, annoys, pleases or perplexes you.” This was to include, “how you dress,” “how you feel and how you look,” “what you do,” “what you think,” and “what you are.”
The book’s first few chapters also address how this philosophy was conceived, and how the approach to carrying it out differed between editor and publisher as the magazine began to take hold with the public. Later chapters discuss the content development of Seventeen, as well as how it was marketed to both readers and advertisers. Two of the book’s chapters explore the tactics used by the magazine to show the possibilities the teen market held as a potential goldmine for advertisers and marketers. According to Massoni, Seventeen helped create a niche market for retailers that has mushroomed into what exists today in the teen consumer market.
The book concludes by addressing some of the changes that took place once Valentine left the magazine in 1950 and by showing how the publication has evolved to its present-day state.
What’s interesting about Massoni’s approach is that she simultaneously traces the magazine’s history while describing the behind-the-scenes internal politics that took place at Seventeen, particularly between Valentine and Annenberg. Because of the friction between the two, Massoni says, Valentine has largely been written out of the publication’s history books and deserves to be recognized for her enormous contribution to the magazine’s creation, development, and growth.
Massoni has done an admirable job of showing how and why Valentine deserves this recognition, and she is determined to leave readers with a clear understanding of Seventeen’s true history, as opposed to the expurgated version that has been passed off as its history by Annenberg’s publishing company. Massoni accomplished this through archival research, transcripts of conversations with Helen Valentine, letters between Valentine and Annenberg, and personal interviews with one of the magazine’s original staff members.
Fashioning Teenagers: A Cultural History of Seventeen Magazine is likely to appeal to those interested in magazine history, as this particular magazine led the charge in the creation of the host of teen-oriented publications that followed. It also may appeal to those interested in learning more about advertising, marketing, and promotion, as it shows how creative advertising and promotional techniques can really make a difference in influencing consumer trends.
ANDI STEIN
California State University, Fullerton
who created seventeen and when was it created