These days, no matter where you look: be it television, social media or print media; we are consumed with the world of celebrity. The days of the gossip mags are slowly becoming obsolete because we want to know, for example, "What is happening with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West? Did he really throw out all her clothes and make her take out her hair extensions?" We want to know it now and everything about it.
Celebrities might not like the exposure but it definitely doesn't always harm them... unless your Kristen Stewert getting slammed about an exposed affair with a married director of one of her films. Rojek,Chris (2012) speaks about the art of Public relations and how it affects the nature of the way we view and are exposed to celebrities, so intensely today. That fame is a game. And it is well played by those who know it.
The Kardashians have that game covered. When it comes to global media there is no other family as over exposed. Nearly every family member, aside from Olympic great, father and husband; Bruce Jenner, have accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and own personal blog pages. This family leaves the house and goes for a little lunch? You'll know about it about 30 seconds.
Due to their highly sucessful television show Keeping Up With The Kardashians, which included several spinoffs, demand for the show has become so popular that they have been renewed for another 2 seasons. Bauder,D (2012, Huffington Post) reported that on the series was picked up for another 3 seasons (pre-season 7) and the family was signed for a whopping $40 million dollar deal. Apparently making it the highest paid reality tv deal ever.
Every thing about this family is on show. We've seen relationships forming and ending, Marriages (lasting 72 days) and divorces; and We've even seen the eldest daughter Kourtney give birth live on camera, twice.
Love them or hate them, the Kardashian brand or rather BILLION DOLLAR EMPIRE is beyond finishing, for now at least. Clothing brands, weight loss supliments, makeup, fragrance,books, etc. Halonen-Knight, E, Hurmerinta, C(2010) speaks about celebrity endoresment and how its not a one way deal. Your just not another face on a product. You are the face of a product. Essentially the people, who are in charge of PR and publicity for the product and even branding, want the celebrity they chose to endorse it to reflect the product. You see the celebrity and you think of the product. You think of the product, you think of the celebrity. As you can see it works both ways. But look at celebrities that behave badly, such behaviour can make or break a products reputation by association. A reputation is never really a good thing
But as far as the famous Armenian family is concerned with all these forms of media covered, it's not so hard to keep up with the Kardashians.
But im not talking about celebrity exposure. Im talking about the way they can use that exposure to benefit others. 85 per cent of the world has heard of Lady Gaga. Gaga is a global celebrity. An avid promoter of gay rights and most importantly, founder of the youth empowerment foundation, the Born This Way Foundation. Gaga uses her music, her videos, you-tube posts, and tweets to convey a message. Whether or not you like her, her message is clear and she makes a strong point of it.
The following youtube video is the entire launch event for the foundation. Hosted by Oprah Winfrey, Gaga and her mother Cynthia explain the importance of the foundation and there mission statement. (This is a rather long video but its worth the watch when you have some time) but basically that is a movement of self acceptance and happiness, rather than what you would assume to be bullying.
You would assume bullying after the strong stance Gaga has against bullying. Bullied herself as a child, Gaga understands what people who arent of the 'norm' go through. Part of who she is bringing to life such issues especially when they hit at home to her. Jamey Rodemyer, a 14 year old american fan, commited suicide in September last year due to extreme bullying because of his sexuality(Daily Mail reporter, 2011).
Hours before his suicide, he tweeted Lady Gaga. It read:
@LADYGAGA: BYE MOTHER MONSTER, THANK YOU FOR ALL THAT YOU'VE DONE, PAWS UP FOREVER.
Days later, Gaga sang in tribute to Jaime, during her iHeartRadio performance. Here is the full video of the performance.
This is what Gaga is using the BTW foundation to fight against. Unfortunate acts that come to pass that could be avoided. Education is key to pushing forward the message. Thats exactly what the foundation is about.
I know I'm heavily endorsing the foundation but this is celebrity global media using its resources to help people. The BTW foundation is using social media to promote its message, to gain volunteers and to save a life.
For more information on the Born This Way Foundation visit, bornthiswayfoundation.org
Celebrities do good. The world is changing, they can help us fast track it. Now you might say we've looked at it from both sides. You can see how global media can make a celebrity, an international star or promote a message in way of charity. These days you can be a celebrity for anything, I mean give me a break, I spent the entire entry without talking about the tape that made one of the main subjects of my article a star around the world. But, it is how we use global media and our influence as celebrities to help others.
This could be why such telethons have been so successful over past natural disasters. Live Aid, etc. pull in mega celebrities and performers to attract viewers that are gonna spend the money for the charity or aid because they like that celebrity, they are endorcing and for it, so they should be for it too. It helps people affected by the disasters get the aid they need like food, water, clothing, accomedation etc. If getting a celebrity to do a performance or to make an appearence helps the viewer throw money towards the cause, fantastic.
I mean havent such tactics been going well year after year for the Good Friday Appeal?
With all the information combined the message im trying to portray for the post is this:
You can get all the exposure you want. You can endorse yourself on many forms of media, whether it be traditional, new, social etc. This can make you wildly famous and rich. But at the end of the day, without sounding like a free love hippy, what is the point of having such fame and exposure on such a grand global scale, if you can't do a little good with it.
References:
Pictures:
http://assets.poponthepop.com/photos/full/kanye-west-and-kim-kardashian-us-weekly-cover.jpg
http://assets.poponthepop.com/photos/full/kanye-west-and-kim-kardashian-us-weekly-cover.jpg
http://bossip.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/gallery_main-kim-kardashian-khloe-vegas-birthday-8.jpg
http://api.ning.com/files/1mCGcddTIu3eQGyAivMc9ZLkH90Qv8ciExgAYoE67BPBtGFK8oA82I2a1mUJ*i7cJs6y4OVZ5v9K03XTD6LjOw__/KardashiansFamilyChristmascard.jpg
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/428949_389373941116056_1793692748_n.jpg
Academic Articles:
Rojek, Chris (2012). Fame Attack . London: Bloomsbury Academic . 22.
News Articles:
Halonen-Knight, E, Hurmerinta, C. (2010). Who endorses whom? Meanings transfer in celebrity endorsement. Branding and Society : The Social, Cultural and Financial Impacts of Brands in the 21st Century . 19 (6), 69.
News Articles:
Bauder, D. (2012). 'Keeping Up With The Kardashians' Renewed For 3 More Seasons . Available: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/24/keeping-up-with-the-kardashians-renewed_n_1450041.html. Last accessed 5th Oct 2012.
Daily Mail Reporter. (2011). Lady Gaga sings moving tribute to bullied gay 14-year-old who committed suicide as 500 gather for funeral .Available: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2041622/Jamey-Rodemeyer-Lady-Gaga-sings-moving-tribute-gay-teen-committed-suicide.html. Last accessed 5th Oct 2012.
You have given interesting good points in relation to how celebrity convey their self-images through different media use. Your structure throughout the blog is really nicely. I do agree with your example of Lady Gaga, which outlined how she utilized the expansion and use of social media and networks for self-promotion and reputation management.
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