We open this post with a “Thank you” and a “We’re sorry”.
Thank you for participating in our social media experiment.
We’re sorry for our fake headline (which is as meaningless as Kim Kardashian’s status as a celebrity). Yes Kim was in town recently, but — to our knowledge — she was nowhere near our office.
The idea for this post came while we were discussing what constitutes news and what it is that drives attention, interest and traffic on the net. This is where we noticed that Kim (and the rest of the Kardashian clan) have become not just celebrities, but synonymous with the word celebrity. But why? And how?
Celebrity used to require intelligence, remarkable achievement, talent and/or power. In this age of “choose the media you wish to consume” it seems all one needs to launch a ridiculously profitable celebrity brand is a “leaked” sex tape. (I put the word ‘leaked’ in quotation marks because there’s a popular theory that the idea for her video was a suggestion – by her brother of all people!)
So, to be a celebrity these days all you need is some sex appeal and a strategy. And by strategy we mean an act that most of us, if we experienced it, would never want the rest of the world scrutinizing. Strategy for the modern day celebrity ( a person who’s famous for being famous) means a video of one’s self in an intimate encounter, false marriages or real divorces, a run-in with the law, or a brush with intoxication and the subsequent stint in re-hab. In recent years, these celbritease have used such approaches to create headlines: Paris Hilton, David Hasselhoff, Nicole Ritchie, Brittney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and even George Clooney. (Although Clooney’s stint was likely more altruistic than egomaniacal, as he intentionally got arrested to bring headlines to the struggles in Sudan.)
The question becomes what is more shameful: the celebrity who lays every detail of their life out on a platter for all to see? Or is it those of us who run to the trough of celebrity news and gobble it up?
I’m not sure there’s an answer, but what is clear “celebrity” and the attention and curiosity it creates is bigger than ever. (You clicked to read this, didn’t you?)
Les Mottosky
