This quantitative and qualitative research examined three bestselling young adult romance series: Gossip Girl, A-List, and Clique, which are all produced by Alloy Entertainment, a marketing firm subsidiary. Alloy Entertainment markets these books to advertisers as a vehicle for product placement (Mehegan, 2006). Consumption, often of specified brands and product lines, were linked with female character’s (a) social status; (b) need for a thin body; and (c) increased romantic and sexual desirability. Hundreds of brand names appear frequently within the texts. These are linked through narrative to desirable and stigmatized lifestyles and identities. I argue that these novels’ central focus is not romance at all, but rather how an idealized femininity may be established through consumption. (from the abstract, emphasis added)