Marketing Celebrities and Fandom, Essay Example

The celebrities of today’s generation are increasingly getting stardom and/or fame without having much talent. In addition, marketers are prone to using these popular faces as their product endorsers. As consumers, we have all seen at least one of our favorite celebrities on a product. For example, Beyoncé has been featured in Pepsi commercials, while Lebron James is the star of Gatorade. The list goes on. While there are some celebrities who have qualified ability, it is apparent that the genres of music and film that these individuals produce are manufactured to appeal to a large audience. Furthermore, there are many individuals who are considered famous for little to no reason. For example, many people are fascinated with the Kardashian family, but very few are certain why. Overall, it appears that modern celebrities are famous due to how they are marketed. The public seeks entertainment, and production companies are willing to go to great lengths to ensure that this entertainment value is present, even if it must be fabricated and homogenous.

It could be said that the portrayal of celebrities outside of their respective arts is a continued act. In some cases, these reports may be authentic, but they are captured in a manner that makes the public want to know what has happened and why. Sometimes, tabloid reports are a complete farce, meant to popularize a celebrity or get the public thinking about them again. An excellent example is the reports that the public had regarding Brittney Spears’ possible psychosis in the early 2000s. She was a reported drug user, shaved her head, and married a man for about a day (Celizic, 2008). While some of these could have been true, they were certainly embellished to make her look larger than life and reinforce the idea that somehow, the problems that celebrities experience are grander than those experienced by average people. Despite the large amount of information put out about Spears during this time period, the public loved this story, which bolstered her image and allowed her to enter the music scene once again.

Ultimately, it appears that celebrities that are able to generate a lot of “buzz” are the moneymakers, while the ones we appreciate purely for their talent don’t appear to be as successful. As a consequence, celebrities that are willing to engage in outlandish behaviors are rewarded, while morale individuals are punished by this system. It is not ethical to promote these behaviors because many people continue to look towards celebrities as role models, and this appears to be glamorizing bad behavior. Tarnishing society is not worth the added profit.

Due to this shift in the entertainment industry, there is no real value to creating a fan any more. Furthermore, fandom has changed in a manner that allows the target audience to be desensitized to what the media is considering quality talent. Rather than swaying crowds with appealing music, fans can be considered those who follow a brand (Evans et al., 2005). While “Belieber’s” certainly enjoy the music of Justin Beiber, it can be said that they enjoy the idea of his fame even more. Since they think he is attractive, talented, and that all of their friends like him, young teens need to jump onto this bandwagon to make sure that their friends think their taste in music is good, reaffirming their membership in their friend group. Even though marketing managers established this branding to ensure long-term success of the artist, this is often not the case (Pringle, 2004). Changing fads and music tastes can disrupt this branding, often requiring a rebranding that is not as successful (Lim, 2005). While many artists enter music to stay true to their beliefs, they often agree to sell out because they like the idea of instant fame. However, many regret this choice and find themselves in an early retirement.

In modern entertainment, the voice of the people has been virtually removed. Ultimately, this will become damaging to the industry as more and more independent artists attempt to publicize themselves over the internet, social media platforms, and low-budget scripted television. While marketing can help sway the popularity of entertainment choices, making artists and their production company’s large sums of money more quickly, it is clear that these practices are altering the industry. As a result, many fans of popular culture will continue to be pleased, while those opposed to it will be displease. However, these people will instead turn to the internet, which provides free entertainment that is much more suitable to their tastes.

References

Celizic, M. (2008). Sources: Spears Suffering from Bipolar Disorder. Retrieved from http://www.today.com/health/sources-spears-suffering-bipolar-disorder-2D80555564

Evans, J., Hesmondhalgh, D. (2005). Understanding Media: Inside Celebrity (Understanding Media). Open University Press.

Lim, G. (2005). Idol to Icon: The Creation of Celebrity Brands. Cyan Communications.

Pringle, H. (2004) Celebrity Sells. John Wiley & Sons.