In one corner, Tina Wells shames the campaign in a HuffPo article called Is Gossip Girl What Teens Really Want? arguing that teens don’t want racy. She says the notion that teens will like what their parents hate is bunk, and that a show like The Hills is much more relatable.
YPulse’s college reporter, on the other hand, thinks that college student’s heart Gossip Girl (and their taboo new ads). “As a college student, I find myself in “Gossip Girl’s” target audience and, like a great majority of my friends, can’t get enough. For people I know who haven’t gotten around to watching the show, these ads have already sparked their interest.”
The comments that have come in on HuffPo also show both sides of the debate. RobinSeattle said:
…what Gossip Girl apparently portrays, though I haven’t seen it, does, in fact occur everywhere in America (albeit without the upper class accoutrements). … I saw all that back in the 1970’s in my own neighborhood and I’m sure it is happening now. Don’t be so shocked. Same stuff, different decade.
Meanwhile, bored2tears applauded Tina:
Nothing in “Gossip Girl” rings remotely true to its target audience. Even a fantasy has to have some grounding in reality, and “Gossip Girl” simply has none.
To prove her point, Wells offered to extend the question to her youth panels:
Seriously, I’ll set up a thread on Facebook and ask my 9,000 teens, tweens and 20-somethings to comment on the question: “Is Gossip Girl Too Racy?” Watch this space. You’ll have your answers. I’ll even provide you with the link.
OK, first of all, we need to define our terms here. Are we talking about teens? or Tweens and 20-somethings as well? I know “young people” or “youth” sounds stodgy, but you can’t say “teens” and mean tweens, teens, and twenty-somethings (this is something that happens quite often). And you certainly can’t presume they all think alike (which is also common). In reality, there is a often a sizable gap between the three segments. On the whole, while the younger generation like good clean fun (Hannah Montana, High School Musical, Club Penguin), their older counterparts are a bit less wholesome. Evidence: Gossip Girl garnered 14 nominations in the latest Teen Choice Awards to Hannah’s four. And 20-somethings are more akin to Gen Xers in their tastes.
Second of all, in regards to the “rings true” argument, we’ll say 2 words: 90210 and Friends. Both huge hits with younger audiences, and neither came too close to their reality. Here’s another word: Escapism.
In regards to Wells’ offer: We’ve been watching the space, and no link has materialized yet. We also queried Wells on Facebook and received no reply.
Perhaps ASKing, another commenter and mother of a 5-year-old, sums it up well. Parents still just don’t understand.
There are so many great books out there for teens, and yet, Gossip Girl sells. (And made it to TV.) This is the part I don’t understand. I asked my teen reader friends and they tell me it’s a guilty pleasure. They don’t relate to the GG characters, but they enjoy reading about the unrealistic racy lifestyles. *shrug* …
I look forward to your survey!
So do we! Especially a well-segmented one.
