Seventeen (magazine) - Seventeen Magazine's Early History

Seventeen Magazine's Early History

Seventeen Magazine's first editor, Helen Valentine, believed it was necessary for the teenage girl to gain some respect in the real world by providing her with a source that would help her acquire understanding of the ways she could make a name for herself in society. Soon enough, it became evident that Seventeen would become a major catalyst in the role that teens have played and continue to play in the consumer market and pop culture. The concept of "teenager" as a distinct demographic segment of the population was a relatively new idea at that time. In July 1944, King Features Syndicate began running the comic strip "Teena," created by cartoonist Hilda Terry, in which the trials and tribulations of a typical teenager's life were portrayed, and "Teena" ran in newspapers all over the world for 20 years. After Seventeen Magazine was launched in September 1944, Estelle Ellis Rubenstein, the magazine's promotion director, used "Teena" as a marketing tool to introduce advertisers to the life of teenage girls and to encourage advertisers to buy space in Seventeen. The magazine surveyed teen girls in 1945 and 1946 to establish a set of demographics that could help them understand how a girl could benefit most from the articles. Its ability to act as a major source of advice for many different aspects of a teenage girl's life helped promote Seventeen's stance in the business world, as well as in the world of a teenage girl. Today, it is equally as evident that the magazine serves a greater purpose than simply being a form of literary entertainment, for it also promotes self-confidence and success in young women.

News Corporation bought Triangle in 1988, and sold Seventeen to K-III Communications (later Primedia) in 1991. Primedia sold the magazine to Hearst in 2003. It is still in the forefront of newsstand popularity among growing competition.