BRANDING

What makes a person a celebrity?

There's that popular phrase that "Instagram is a highlight reel" and it's entirely true. We craft and post how we wish to be perceived on social media. When it comes to celebrities, though, the entire person is crafted by huge teams.

Branding: The promotion of a particular product or company by means of advertising and distinctive design.

Media scholar Claudia Bucciferro, Ph.D. writes that “media texts never simply mirror or reflect ‘reality,’ but instead construct hegemonic definitions of what should be accepted as ‘reality.’ These definitions appear to be inevitable, ‘real’ and commonsensical. But they are not actually so” (Bucciferro, 2012). Despite even the most conscious efforts to present a celebrity as authentic, the process of branding a person is anything but. Once people have their 'break' into the industry, efforts to stay of relevance take priority. Ultimately, control of the celebrity's "distinctive design" benefits the salaries of many at the cost of the individual. Human beings are not products, but celebrities have to be.

A clip from Demi Lovato's unreleased 2018 tour documentary describing the makeup of her team

From Fake Famous (2021)

A clip from Whitney: Can I Be Me? Where Whitney's branding to appeal to white audiences backfires at the Soul Train Awards.