Disney Princess Magazine

Walt Disney Company and Redan Publishing
Edited by Frevisse Dearsley-Hitchcock
Published 8 times a year
Ages 5 to 9
1/5

This is a terrible magazine, but, unfortunately, I can also see why many little girls would love it: it is focussed around being pretty, dainty, wearing beautiful gowns, and generally being just like the princesses in Disney movies.

The magazine is filled with advertisements for Disney products, including dolls, DVDs, and personalized Disney princess lunch bags, wall clocks, photo albums, etc. Some of these ads are even embedded within the "activities", such as "Draw lines to match each Soft & Sweet doll to her shadow." I feel this is an unfair marketing tactic because most children in the age range at which this magazine is aimed may not be aware of the differences between an advertisement and the rest of the publication.

The activities in the magazine are uncreative and poorly designed. The level of difficulty of the mazes, colouring sheets, matching games, and finding games does not match the level of difficulty of the text.

Finally, although I appreciated that the princesses do not spend all their time day-dreaming about their princes, every time they appear in a picture they are either brushing their hair, looking in the mirror, or holding a little woodland creature on their fingers. While some of the stories and games try to encourage good manners and kindness towards others, most focus on having the prettiest dress, giving the best present, or being the most beautiful princess.

Dreadful.