"Of course, teenage girls need role models - but not like beauty blogger Zoella" - My view

When this article first appeared on The Independent, it was immediately plastered all over my twitter feed. Journalism should be journalism, a professional opinion, it can be biased, but requires a balance. The phrase "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" was used by many when referencing the article. Of course the writer is entitled to her own opinion, but she crosses the line by criticising Zoe's appearance, putting down her achievements, and failing to research her argument.

The article opens with the statement "Her eyes are enormous." Writing later about how her belief of that girls should not worry about how they look is discredited by her "tutors her young prodigies on how to beauty and fashion right". This criticism of her eye size should therefore discredit this view of Chloe's, as it is a complete contradiction in it's own right.  

Chloe goes on to write; "She looks like a startled bird; albeit a bird with the gorgeous, flowing locks of Rapunzel, the high-pitched giggle of Tinkerbell, and a name so irritatingly Disney-fied it makes my stomach churn: Zoella."

The article angered me mostly as it was an on the surface opinion, it's clear that Chloe hasn't taken the time to research Zoe and what she actually speaks about. Chloe states "Zoella is a beauty and fashion vlogger – the latest creation spat out by the YouTube machine to instruct young girls how to paint on the perfect smoky eye or red lip." With this comment, she suggests that Zoe begun by giving out beauty advice, whilst as a Subscriber I am fully aware that she didn't produce a Beauty Tutorial until 2011 (two years after she begun her channel). This "tutorial" was titled "Spiffing Makeup Tutorials (i.e Look Your Worst)", therefore a comedy video, not a genuine 'wear your make-up like this'. Zoe didn't produce a genuine make-up tutorial on her channel until two years later in 2013, four years after beginning her Channel. Chloe's main criticism of Zoe centres around her beauty advice, the simple fact that this is a minor focus of Zoe's Channel renders the article useless.