“I am sixteen going on Seventeen ….”
Let me introduce you to Seventeen magazine friends – yeah, yet another Indian-version-of-a-foreign magazine that was first published in March 2003 (I’ve started reading from April). It is targeted at the same affluent and socializing female audience as the rest of women’s magazines are, only this time it is for the bit younger crowd – the ones between 15 and 25.
The Seventeen girl, as the magazine makes her out to be, is the teenaged rich kid with a lot of disposable pocketmoney to be spent on designerwear, imported cosmetics, discos, pubs and her concerns include friends, boyfriends, soap characters, occasionally parents and family, and more occasionally with some conscientious social work thrown in. And yeah, she has to be a Mumbaiite, because the mag has got very little to do with other cities (some Delhi and Pune are occasionally thrown in, but I guess the Seventeen people aren’t yet aware that quite large metros and not just Jhumritilaiya-prototypes exist at the places called Kolkata, Chennai or Bangalore).
Now since most of these concepts (I am NOT saying all) don’t really come handy for me, being a middleclass kid with limited pocketmoney, limited independence and an unhappy family (read my profile if this one raises eyebrows) – I don’t find the magazine that much of useful, but I’m sure it definitely finds much use to whom it may concern. I don’t know, some might find the mag really impossible to live without, as the letters from readers indicate. It’s not entirely impossible, as most of the features are connected to the real life that many girls in this country live. It’s another thing that my life is different – certainly cannot be counted as the fault of the magazine.
As for me, I quite enjoy the features that I find handy. That includes but is not limited to the Personality Quiz, which is something I’m addicted to, the advices on Real Life, Body, Beauty and Guys (not all, only the ones that are applicable to me) and the celeb interviews (for a different reason, it’s that I want to be an interviewer myself!). The Ed & Careers features mainly focus on those who want to study abroad. The fashion and beauty tricks are good, especially the Do Over section which I love (normal girls and not models are given a total look makeover, mainly by changing their hairstyle, at some posh salon in Mumbai, courtesy the Seventeen team), but as for the clothes, jewellery and cosmetics that are featured in the mag – for me they only mean feasting my eyes (and dreaming of the day I’ll be able to purchase them). Almost all of them being from designer stores and/or international labels, they’re meant essentially for the ones we call rich kids (no offence intended).
There’s a Teen Advisory Panel of the mag which consists of normal guys (yeah, guys too!) and girls like us, they give advice or share personal experiences which comes with almost every feature, on every possible subject – and I find that pretty useful. It’s cool to know what someone else in my situation would do or has done, rather than simply dry tips and advices.
In short, Seventeen is like a teenage girl’s Cosmopolitan, with all the regular features of an international girls’ magazine. If you’re the Seventeen girl, you’re gonna love it. If you don’t like anything in it, that’s probably because you’re not one of its target audience – I think even the magazine authorities will agree that the target audience of Seventeen is very small. It’s not certainly meant for every Indian teenage girl – although I admit there’s something for everybody in it (what I mean to say is that everything in it is not for everybody – only a selected few will find everything useful), or why do I like it too, in spite of being so different from the typical Seventeen girl?
As an ending note, I was trying for long to write a review that’d not be bordering on an epic, and looks like I’ve finally attained that ideal review with this one. Do leave your comments on how the attempt was.
~ Mandy ~
PS : Had I been in Mumbai, I think I’d have tried my hand at writing features for Seventeen … whaddya say guys? Good option for me? Comments and M2M are more than welcome.