“Brands that once told teens what they should like now struggle to keep up with the teen-creator ecosystem, where young influencers exchange recommendations with their peers for free, and sponsored posts have effectively replaced advertising. Whereas teens previously trusted the wisdom of women who were four to twenty years older, they now turn to other teens on TikTok. Another shift seems to lie in what, exactly, teens consider to be aspirational. Most teen magazines of yore emphasized cookie-cutter perfection, but now everyone wants to be “authentic.” Read it here