Shrines, Shrines and More Shrines!

After discussing fandom and the connections between celebrities and their audiences, we made shrines to celebrate some of our favourite stars. (Click on the image to enlarge).

Enjoy!

Why start a blog?

Starting a blog is a great way to create a place where you can freely express your thoughts and opinions. A blog can also be a useful tool for self-promotion. Are you a fangirl who loves writing fanfiction? Share it on fansites, but also share it on your own blog and create a portfolio of your work to show friends and family, and even schools and employers. Are you an aspiring singer or actor? Post videos on YouTube to display your talent, but also share these videos on your own blog where you can add a more personal touch by providing more information about yourself.

Blogs also function to bring like-minded people together. Are you the only one of your friends obsessed with a certain author or musician? Are you the only one in your family who loves learning about protecting the environment or 16^th century history? Make a blog focused on your passions and you’ll start to find other people who share your interests and ideas .

The best blogs are ones that are updated regularly. As a blogger, this means you always need to reading and learning, thinking and writing. This is the only way to stay up-to-date about what is going on in your area of interest. Plus, information gathering, critical thinking and clear and concise writing are all really good skills to develop when you’re in high school and university.

Above all, starting (and maintaining) a blog should be something fun. If you write about something you’re interested in and passionate about, blogging will be something you want to do, not something you have to do or should do. You’ll want to share all your great ideas with other people!

Think no one will read your blog? Tavi Gevinson started her style blog in 2008 as an after-school hobby when she was 12 years old.


Soon she was being invited to fashion shows and asked to contribute articles to major magazines and websites. Just two years later, her dedication and passion for blogging helped her develop her own online magazine, Rookie Magazine. With the help of amateur and professional contributers, Rookie Magazine publishes articles three times a day, five days a week.

Happy Blogging!

Understanding the Appeal of Celebrity Endorsement

Celebrity endorsement deals extend a celebrity’s brand and earn them money. They also draw attention to a company or product and increase sales. But what do these deals do for us?

Are you more of a Harry or a Niall?

We’ve discussed how we identify with certain celebrities: We make them role models. We think of them in terms of inspiration and aspiration. More specifically, we identify certain qualities in some celebrities that encourage us to think or behave in certain ways. Lady Gaga fans might be inspired to embrace their individuality and “let their freak flag fly”. We also identify certain qualities in some celebrities that encourage us to work towards achieving something. This can be something aesthetic: maybe you want to master Lana Del Ray’s makeup style or maybe you want to mimic the fashion style of the band fun. This aspiration can be something more significant: maybe you want to be able to play guitar like Keith Richards or the drums like Travis Barker, maybe you want to skateboard like Danny Way, or maybe you want to write a book like J.K. Rowling.

But we live in a consumer society – meaning we’re always encouraged to buy buy buy; consumption is understood as a means to satisfaction and happiness. We know this isn’t really true, but it’s what we’re told. And media coverage of celebrities seizes on this consumerism and our identification with celebrities and presents the lifestyle of the rich and famous “as a model of consumption practice and aspiration for the reader”. More specifically, these articles and advertisements emphasise both the celebrities’ spectacular lifestyle and their similarities to us so we both identify with celebrities and aspire to be like them. Celebrity-endorsed products are the most efficient means to get one step closer to both the celebrity and the celebrity lifestyle

Getting Closer to the Celebrity
Some social psychologists argue that we all want a piece of our idols. According to these studies, mass media and the Internet have brought celebrities and fans closer and closer over the years. We’ve talked about this: how we get a constant stream of information and have all different ways of communicating with celebrities today. The consequence of this is that old forms of collecting – news articles and press photos and autographs – aren’t enough anymore. We want something more intimate from our stars. If we can’t personally get an autograph or a photo, we can buy a piece of celebrity by buying a product they endorse or a product they had a hand in creating.

For example, Kate Moss created a collection for TopShop. According to marketing expert Claire Beale, fans will buy a skirt or a jacket from this collection because they believe in buying these items, they are getting a piece of Kate herself. She says, “Somewhere within the DNA of the Kate Moss collection is the spirit of Kate herself…Buy the denim hot pants, buy a piece of Kate.”





Or, if Kanye is more your inspiration, connect with him by wearing shoes he personally designed for Nike.


What products have you bought in order to own some celebrity DNA?

Choosing A Celebrity Spokesperson

Paul Rudd and Seth Rogan for Samsung

A celebrity can have a huge impact on a brand – and the company hopes they will – but this means that when a company decides to use a celebrity as a spokesperson or “brand ambassador”, they have to carefully consider who they select to be the “face” of their product.

Evaluating A Spokesperson

1. Recognisability: A celebrity spokesperson has to be someone who is immediately recognisable. Traditional advertisements don’t have time to explain who the person is and indirect marketing especially requires the public to know who the person is (otherwise they're just any other person on the street!
2. Demographic appropriateness: Who is it the company is marketing to and which celebrities do those people like
3. Consider level of exposure: too many endorsement deals confusing and too strong of a personal brand might overshadow rather than compliment the product
4. Consider the celebrity’s social risk: Drug and alcohol use, aggressive behaviour, eating disorders, sexual exploits, strong political or religious ideas - any one of these factors can negatively affect the public’s perception of the product the celebrity is promoting. However, some companies want a celebrity who is a little rebellious. It just depends on the type of product and the target audience.
5. Overall effectiveness: Is the celebrity attractive, likable, popular, and honest?

Think about some current celebrity spokespeople. Why do you think they were hired by these companies? 

Different Ways Celebrities Sell To Us

Celebrity endorsements can take several different forms. The celebrity may simply appear in advertisements for a product, place, service or charity. The celebrity might provide a voiceover for a television or radio ad. The celebrity might attend PR events. Or the celebrity could participate in promotional stunts.

But endorsement deals are not always so clearly identifiable. To understand the extent of celebrity endorsements, we need to look at different types of marketing campaigns. 

Here's a quick summary of four different ways celebrities endorse (intentionally or not) products, places, services, charities, or even ideas.

Direct Marketing: the celebrity is hired by a company to promote their product through mass media advertising

Indirect/Stealth Marketing: the celebrity is hired by a company to promote their product through private life; Celebrities spotted wearing/using some product; another type of indirect marketing is product placement in television shows and movies. Usually the products are incorporated into the scene, but not mentioned specifically by name.

Accidental Marketing: the celebrity becomes associated with a particular brand based on their personal preferences; As Morin writes, “a star’s way of life is in itself merchandise.” In other words, the private-public life of the stars always functions as a kind of commercial. The challenge is knowing when a celebrity is using a certain product or wearing a specific designer in their private life because they want to or because they have been paid to. Often don’t ever know for sure.

Collaborative/Independent Marketing: celebrity creates their own line of products or services, and uses their own name/image as a brand

Choose a celebrity you're familiar with and think about the different types of endorsements associated with this person. How do these endorsements reflect this person's identity (their personality, interests, preferences, and values)? How does this connection affect the social value of the product?

A Piece of Celebrity: Celebrity Endorsement Deals

Lady Gaga's fake nail (recovered by a stage crew member) was auctioned off for $13 000 in May 2013

If you don’t have thousands of dollars to buy a celebrity’s chewed gum or if you don’t live in Los Angeles or New York City and can't get a photo or an autograph…how do you get a piece of celebrity?

Well, what do Beyoncé, Jennifer Aniston, Justin Bieber, and Mr. T all have in common? They’re all celebrity spokespeople who endorse certain products.

When we talked about the star system, we talked about how “stars” were created to attract audiences to movies. Actually, the entire studio system and star system were (and are) entirely focused on production: the production of movies, the production of stars, the production of fan magazines, the production of merchandise. When a celebrity’s image is constructed (or developed) by a studio or management team, the celebrity essentially becomes merchandise: every part of the star can be used to sell some product or idea.

In his book ‘Stars’, Morin writes “There is not an inch of her body, not a shred of her soul, not a memory of her life that cannot be thrown on the market”. However, to effectively sell merchandise – whether a car or a lip gloss or a shoe or a celebrity – there needs to be a clear brand. We can say that the celebrity identity created by studios and reinforced by mass media is the celebrity’s brand.

What words comes to mind when we think of Marilyn Monroe as the Blonde Bombshell? Beautiful. Sexy. Smart. Determined. Shy. Insecure. Tragic. These words have all become associated with Marilyn’s image and story. These words make up her brand.

So, if we think of celebrities as merchandise and brands, we’re thinking about them as a combination of an image and a narrative (a set of beliefs/values/behaviours/preferences). It is this image and narrative – the celebrity brand – that are at the root of celebrity endorsements.

But what exactly is a celebrity endorsement?

A celebrity endorsement is when an actor, singer, athlete or other public figure lends their image – and the ideas or values associated with it – to some type of product or service that is not directly connected to their own work. Companies want celebrities involved with their products or services because they believe a celebrity-product connection will:

• attract consumers to their product by drawing attention to it
• persuade consumers to buy their product by infusing it with social value 

(Most products have both a use value and a social value. The use value is the practical function of the product – what it allows you to do. The social value is the intangible function of the product – what it communicates to others about you. Think about the newest iPhone. Its use value includes allowing you to make phone calls, send texts, take photos, etc. Its social value, however, is how it makes you look: cool, current, tech savvy.)

So, when a celebrity endorses a product, they are adding to its social value. The same way a film producer will use the reputation of the star of their movie to attract investors and attract audiences, companies use a celebrity endorser to brand their products and attract consumers.

Some scholars say Audrey Hepburn was the first celebrity to endorse a product. In 1957, Hubert de Givenchy (who dressed Hepburn for Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Charade) convinced her to pose for the advertising campaign for his perfume, L’Interdit. Other scholars argue celebrity endorsements began with Lily Langtry. In 1890, soap manufacturer Pears hired actress Lily Langtry to do a testimonial for their product. Her message? “Since using Pears soap, I have discarded all others.”


   

What other celebrity spokespeople can you think of? Do they influence your shopping habits?

A Selfie With A Celebrity

Fan magazines and fan clubs (or fan sites) function to connect fans with celebrities. Fans turn to these sources to learn about celebrities, talk about celebrities, and connect with celebrities.

But there are other ways to connect with celebrities, to get closer to them.

1. BUY THEIR DISCARDED PERSONAL BELONGINGS  Everything from Elvis' hair to Britney Spears' gum is auctioned online. The problem is these items can be quite costly and it's often difficult to verify authenticity.
2. GET THEIR AUTOGRAPH  The original official fan clubs in the 1930s typically included a signed studio headshot with membership. These photos were an ultimate symbol of fandom, representing a direct connection to the stars. The popularity of signed headshots continued for decades following, with fans writing the studios or celebrity’s management requesting a signed photo. Fans can still do this today. Some even buy or bid on vintage and contemporary signed memorabilia online. (Some of the most valuable signed memorabilia are things like movie posters, clothing, tickets – something that is directly connected to the celebrity and their career.)
3. GET A PHOTO  Though autographs are still valued by fans, studies have found that fans are more likely to ask for a photo with a celebrity than their autograph. This is at least partly because fans are more comfortable today asking for a photograph with a celebrity than fans were in the past. Thanks to so much media coverage of celebrities and the extensive use of social media, fans not only feel like they know certain celebrities, but fans also often think that they’re “just like us” in many ways.

Why might a photo be preferred over an autograph?
Indisputable Proof
As one fan explains, "Nowadays, friends don't care about a scribble-scrabble. They think you did it yourself." A photo, on the other hand, is generally accepted as fact – unless you’re really good at Photoshop. "A photo is proof that I was near the people that, before this, only existed on my TV screen or in the movies."

Captures Expression
Another fan says, “A photo can show a smile or an outfit to your friends; a signature can't.” You can analyze everything in the photo – how relaxed the celebrity is, how close they got to you, how sincere their smile looks.

Normalizes Celebrities
One function of fan magazines is to unveil the private lives of celebrities so readers can relate to them on a personal level. A photo with a famous person "supports the larger belief that we are just like them because we are standing right next to them" (Elizabeth Currid-Halkett, Starstruck: The Business of Celebrity).  

Boosts Social Status
Posting selfie with a celebrity on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or any other social networking sites generates a flow of comments. In other words, these photos grant you momentary popularity and build up your social standing online.

An extreme example of this is type of boost was experienced by Sarah M., also known as Stalker Sarah. Sarah is an 18-year-old girl who lives in Los Angeles. Sarah has taken 5000-6000 selfies with celebrities over the past 4 or 5 years. She posts this photos almost daily on Flickr. One of Sarah's first celerity photos was taken at a taping of The Wizards of Waverly Place.

In an interview, Sarah explained, "Autographs never really meant anything to me...[in pictures] you see how stars are real people."

Though Sarah started off like any other fan (taking photos at taping of TV shows and movie premieres), now she’s more like a paparazzo. She waits at airport terminals and waits outside of nightclubs. But she says that she’s become so familiar to celebrities, that they recognize her and happily take photos!



And, in an interesting twist, Sarah has become a sort of celebrity in her own right. She attends celebrity events, including a Nylon magazine party, Perez Hilton's birthday, and a Family Guy event. She's gone bowling with Nick Jonas, dated Angus T. Jones (from Two and a Half Men), hangs out with Jedward, and even has fans who take photos with her!