Starstruck- Response

One thing that I found extremely interesting about this week's reading is how the author described a celebrity's branding and how they "sell" themselves. They are essentially a product that they must sell to the consumers, who are us. If we do not like the product, we do not buy it. Therefore, it is important for the celebrity to be someone the people either really like, i.e. Reese Witherspoon, or someone who the people really hate, but love hearing about, i.e. Charlie Sheen. They must choose what role they want to play, then sell themselves accordingly. I am noticing in the music industry, women usually sell themselves into the overly sexual types, then once they acquire enough fame, show more of their true character and use their celebrity status to re-brand themselves into someone they want to be. Being married to an advertiser, I understand the importance of brands. They are the driving force of capitalism. I knew that this was a must in order to be successful in the business world, but I did not realize how it applied to Hollywood. When you think about it, every celebrity in movies and music has a brand that they sell with their movies, style, and appearances in public. Hollywood celebrities often fall victim to type casting based on their brand. You can tell a truly good actor when they can play a variety of different roles and characters extremely well. The less a person cares about their status of fame and their "celebrity residual," as Currid-Halkett refers to, the more likely they are to not fall into a certain category or their brand will be less defined. Next time you see celebrities on t.v. or in the news, see if you can pin point exactly how they are trying to brand themselves. There is a good chance you will see reassuring patterns with their behavior and decisions.