Why people buy fashion magazines? For many reasons of course! Personally, I find some great editorials, personal stories that touch and move and compel to think from a different perspective. There are some wonderful healthy recipes that are perfect for my hectic lifestyle and demands. And without saying, well designed magazine outsells any other that doesn’t follow the trend.
It is natural and obvious that people respond to and are eager to spend their extra moment longer on magazines that feature people, their faces, their bodies dressed in couture clothes. It’s a psychological reaction to respond better to a human face than any other given image. This fact alone has been capitalized on and used in many areas of our lives. And one of them is the publishing industry.
We are all very familiar with that urge to stay a second longer by the magazine stand when moving along the line in the grocery store. Headlines and images with real people catch our attention and keep us “loyal” to the habit of either flipping through the pages or buying a copy of the magazine. At the end, the question is, “What is it that urged you to buy this very copy?”
Seventeen with Victoria Justice on its Cover, April 2011 (Photo Courtesy Seventeen)
I was truly inspired by this recent story of an eighth-grade girl, Julia Bluhm who decidedly made her voice heard in the magazine industry. To be more precise, her voice was at least heard by the Seventeen Magazine, the one that teens read.
And what Julia wanted them to know and to change is depicting real girls with real looks. Show freckles, show pores, show any blemishes on faces and bodies that this person in the picture may have and display in real life. And Julia got a huge support from a lot of people, and an online community as well.
Julia Bluhm (Photo Courtesy Ángel Franco/The New York Times)
She collected over 46,000 signatures, rallied in New York, had a meeting with the Seventeen’s editor-in-chief Ann Shoket, and continues to march with her petition to give little girls positive and unchanged images on the pages of the Seventeen magazine.
What Julia has done is far beyond of a deed of courage. She has started her path of a True Hero Quest. A quest that is never easy or resolvable to the end. A quest of triumphs and hard falls. A quest when a person has much more chances to self actualize than anything that is done in life.
Julia Bluhm, Celebrate Woman Today applauds you in your valiant attempt to convince any fashion magazine to share more life-like images of people on their covers and pages. I thank you for your decision and your actions to do what is important for you and so many others around you. You are a true inspiration for all.
The Petition that Julia started is still open to sign. It’s not the end of anything. It’s just a beginning. Or a continuation. Depends on where in life you are standing today.
Sign Petition to ask “Seventeen Magazine to commit to printing one unaltered – real – photo spread per month.”
Celebrate Girls Like Julia Bluhm Today!
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Women are heroes. They have always been heroes.
Being heroes, they hide their identity behind the costumes of everyday life. Hidden from view, doing daily deeds unseen by others, they allow others to shine – the bosses, the kids, the men, the parents, the friends in their lives.
Great campaign that this girl is on! Awesome
I love it! I am beginning with my 9 year old now, and can already see the effects that television and ads have on her self image. I can’t wait to share this article with her!
Truelove amazing. The “public” idea of our correct image is sadly not even close to what a real person looks like everyday. Good for Julia!
I’m so glad this is happening! I’m so tired of seeing touched up photos encouraging our young that’s how they should look. Prespostorous! Love this article!!
I think this is awesome but at the same time I think appearance is very important and starting young.
This is a great idea.
I remember when I first started wearing makeup as a teen I wanted to look like the models in the makeup ads and was very upset when all the product in the world wouldn’t make my skin that smooth or my eyelashes that big.
fabulous fabulous fabulous! all of these unreal expectations put on real girls. let them be young and not worry about all that mess!
This is excellent. Vogue has recently said they won’t use young girls or uberskinny models any longer ..I hope its true!
I think this is so important….I used to rely heavily on teen mags for personal perception, as a teenager. I think the pages need to feature REAL girls!
As someone who pored over every teen magazine available when I was younger, trying to be as perfect as the girls on the pages – I applaud Julia for saying what we all, at one point or another, were thinking….why can’t normal, real looking girls be featured as well?!