Vampire Shows, Reality Shows, Justin Beiber, Lady Gaga and now Rebecca Black. Wonder whatever happened to the media? The real truth? We happened. Mass consumption of people who are happy to see ridiculous and shallow content across the mediums because “Drum roll here” We like to think we are better than the Justin Beibers of the world.
Human psychology is favorable to the idea of sadism; we enjoy seeing people acting like fools as it makes us feel superior. Think about the American Idol William Hung debacle, the reason people were fascinated was due to the fact that here was a person oblivious to the world and his shortcomings, making a fool himself on national television. We as a mass will probably never have the courage to do what William Hung did, but it does not stop us from enjoying it
We like Reality shows where people do the most ridiculous things, even if we know in the bottom of our hearts that these shows are artificial, we like seeing the cat fights and sexual deviance in Big Brother and we absolutely love it when Trump says “You’re Fired”
Vampire shows are of course the flavor of the month, although this flavor seems to have caught our fancies for longer (could it be due to the fact that vampires drink human blood? Don’t need Freud here to interpret) Yes we love the beautiful people but I think we love the blood drinking more maybe because it appeals to our base and primal nature. Hunger, Lust, Survival
Coming to the Tween of Pop Justin Beiber, he is young, he is cheeky but the boy has got talent. Actually Justin Beiber would be someone who used the power of social media for good. He does not appeal to all the age groups and genders but to his Target Audience, he is an idol. He knows what they want and he gives them what they want. Quite Simple. The fact that he used YouTube to rise to success is where it gets interesting. He knew that 13-year-old girls aren’t watching TV or listening to the radio as much as they were on YouTube watching Edward and Bella kiss, thus he went where they were. Classic Marketing Strategy, well, perhaps it was strategy or just dumb luck but it worked, he used a medium that he understood to broadcast himself and voila. Baby Baby Baby ohh!
For the adults of the world, we have Lady Gaga. All Hail the Queen of Monsters. Lady Gaga born Stefani Germonatta started playing the Piano by the age of 4. She has skills but what do you think of when you hear her name? Yep, The meat dress, the Artificial Blood for her Paparazzi performance, the giant egg to launch her new album “Born this way” and who can forget her video with Beyonce “Telephone”. Forbes tells us that she isn’t the New Madonna; she is the new business model. Preying on people’s lowest and weirdest fantasies. She has awed and shocked the world, but we haven’t been able to take our eyes off her. She is now one of the most powerful social currencies in the world due to her 1.6 million followers on twitter and 360 million views on her Bad Romance video. Why? Lady Gaga is a master magician, she understand the nature of viral. Her voice, personality, music and choice of garments is tailor-made to enchant any neitzen. She does this so well that even traditional brands would now like to use Lady Gaga to be their ambassador due to her social currency.
The point perhaps is where does it end? The debauchery? With girls like Rebecca Black singing about the day of the week like its “Oh so fantastic!” her video and her autotune is far from Fun Fun Fun! (Actual lyrics of the song btw). Like discussed above, the reason she has 62 million views and rising is because she is creation of our society. She exists as a reminder that we lead meaningful lives, she is the yin to our yang. Just that her annoying voice is enough to makes you want to pull out your ears. If Rebecca Black had a half decent voice, her fame would be justified but honestly I don’t think the poor girl realizes that the world is not cherishing her but rather relishing her.
Some Interesting Links
Rebecca Black Friday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD2LRROpph0
The Business of Lady Gaga: http://www.forbes.com/2009/11/25/lady-gaga-music-business-entertainment-marketing.html
The Age of mediocrity: http://mashable.com/2011/03/24/rebecca-black-mediocre-culture/
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