Celebrities are a product of the mass media

Celebrity is a child of the mass media, which enabled individuals to be known to millions. Once upon a time, celebrities were people famous for their jobs, achievements or birthright. That meant politicians, athletes, movie stars, artists, royalty and the like. Of course, these sorts of people continue to be celebrities, but now virtually everyone who has had sustained media exposure counts as celebrities because they have been featured in the mass media and are likely to be recognised by million of people.

Celebrity is not longer about status; it’s about familiarity. It’s morally neutral, which means it’s not about whether someone “deserves” to be a celebrity and it’s not about whether a person’s celebrity is based on good deeds or bad. It’s purely about face and/or name recognition and the acid test of being able to draw a crowd. The bigger the celebrity, the bigger the crowd.

With myriad media channels pouring out content 24/7, reality shows proliferating, and new one-to-many media such as blogging and podcasting, Andy Warhol’s 15 minutes of fame is easier than ever to achieve.

While there will doubtless be plenty of public appetite for fade reality and fake celebrity in 2006, it’s authenticity that will give the edge and depth of appeal. In the long run, it makes unapologetically real personalities such as Kate Moss and Angelina Jolie more enduring that such ret-a-smile brand endorsers as Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Excerpts from 10 trends for 2006, A JWT Trend letter, December 2005