The Westernized Vietnamese Teen Magazines and Their Affects on the

Contemporary Vietnamese Teenagers

Nguyen Thi Thai HaMedia & Culture

This presentation was prepared by a student from Vietnam.

About the presentation• Introduction of the magazines (2)• The westernization(2)• The influence from the magazines –how (2)• Comparison between old and new (6)

The outline of what is to follow.

The Magazines (1)

The Westernization of the only two Vietnamese Teen Magazines (Hoahoctro and Muctim) has a strong impact on the mass teenager target audience in Vietnam the trend of Westernization within the community.

The author of this ppt lived through the changes in Vietnamese media. She remembers the simple publications of the 1980s.

The Magazines (2)• Hoahoctro, Muctim: weekly magazines • HI! magazine: 2 times monthly • Target: 16-22• Before 2000• After 2003: The birth of Hi! Magazine

• Northern: political; Southern: business, commercial and materialism.

Unfortunately we don’t have an example of the earlier format but basically, the small newsprint publication was heavy on copy with few images, photos or color. You would find it very dense to read and not particularly inviting. In those days, with fewer sources of information, kids were not aware of the glitz of Western media – yet.

The Westernization (1)• Vietnam, Saigon as the South was colonized by U.S military

and were influenced by the American culture since before 1975.

Saigon: The symbol of Modern and Western

Kids from the south interacted with Americans before the northern kids did. Even today, Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City, is the energy of the country.

Westernization (2)

Element includes:• life style • fashions • contemporary languages • current traditional values

The Influence (1)• Hoahoctro and Muctim: the only two teen magazines • Low price: 3000VND~10 Baht ( HHT& Muctim),

8000VND~20( Hi!)

The Influence (2)• The messages of current issues within the teenager

community • Feeling of close friend and realistic • Colorful pictures about real people • Attractive topics: love, sexual behavior

• 90% of Vietnamese teenager population read the magazines by many ways.

• The magazines create a high wave of being influenced by the magazines from the way of dressing up to the way communicate

Comparison (1)Old Magazines( before 2001)

Colors: Two colors( black for text and other for headline), four colors for the covers and advertisements

Shape: rectangular shape Text display: Long pieces

Direction: top to bottom then left hand to right hand.

Comparison(2)Old Magazines( before 2001)

• Picture display: “Northern culture display”: traditional and political

Nice and charming smile, dressing formal, more focus on faceUse clip-arts • Advertisements: two or three pages, stand separate: anti-acne

products, skincare products. • NO Sponsors

Comparison(3)Old Magazines( before 2001)

• The language: for young people, slang or contemporary Vietnamese

Slang is quoted.• The gender role display:

• Guy: talent (study), girl: charming• Girls long hair, guys wear the glasses • Between girl and guy always exist a distance

• More about educational issues( lesson in every articles)

• Topics about gender with sexual behaviors are not discussed yet

Comparison(4) New Magazines

• Muctim: “Chuyen ay cua chung minh” abt gender, the changing of puberty, sexual behavior are discussed openly

• Circulation increased almost twice from nearly 5000 to 9000.

• Advertising & Sponsors: sanitary napkin product, anti acne products

others: drinks, cosmetic, clothes, mobile phones, study abroad agencies….

Comparison(5) New Magazines• Colors: 4 colors or better displays of two colors unify

and professional• Shape: many kind of shapes and the creative use of

rectangular • Text: flowed from many directions • The language: slang: without any quote, English.

Comparison(6) New Magazines• Freedom of expression or speech: Topic about

complaining teachers, government policy, etc.• The role and the distance between genders are

merged• holding hand, touching each other • Girl: short and colored hair, hip-hop style, independent

(topics: the girl think about guys and how to win the guy if she wants)

• Guys: high-technology stuffs, handsome, rich… (materialism)

Conclusion• The magazines• The westernization and elements• The influence from the magazines –how• Comparison between old and new

The end- Thank you!Have a good time!

From a relationship-based culture, Vietnam, the author concludes her presentation with a friendly exhortation. We wouldn’t do that in the US as we are task-oriented.