Celebrity Culture and Consumerism

Introduction

This topic crops quite a lot with a particular emphasis by those who denounce the pervasive influence of both consumerism and an obsession with celebrities in the society, and the now predictable response that while agreeing with the former sentiment, need to realize how widespread and deep both these cultural phenomena are, and as a consequence how difficult it will be to lessen their impact.

So how does the left respond? Increasingly shrill accusations and denunciations will surely be counterproductive but ignoring the reality will equally fail to alter anything. One approach might be to try and demonstrate how much of a corrosive effect these obsessons have on us all - in terms of both society and the ecologies etc. But this line - especially with regard to society has of course be tried many times before - particularly by the right and religious groups - with little (if any) apparent success. So how should the Left (red, black and green) go about such a difficult task which will often seem thankless, and open to accusations of being orchestrated by killjoys imposing thier pessimistic and dreary view on everyone else? At a time when stories about celebrities (including the relatively new development of Super Injunctions etc) often gain more hits than other articles more traditonally associated with the remit of the left in both The Guardian and The Independent, it is clear that finding a solution is going to be a formidable task! (Lawrence Pp 110)

This is a difficult one, especially to our generation who saw a cultural revolution in the sixties that was anti corporate and establishment. Consumerism, celebrity culture and capitalism are moulded into one and the same, from Nike's sporting celebs to Kylie Minogue's latest sojourn into selling cars, intertwined with the legions of other individuals and products. In addition we have the other phenomenon of famous for being famous merchants that will do anything to get in the newspapers and on TV. Then flaunting their millions made from this parasitic lifestyle, is it any wonder that youngsters aspire to be like a celeb. However the great flaw in this culture is what we have just witnessed in the credit crunch, when credit runs out so does this lifestyle for millions of people. We need to educate people that the culture that is marketed to them and the PR propoganda used in this industry is just that, propoganda to sell products and generate profits. Naomi Klein and others have been putting their case across for years, and it has been successful on some occasions.

Namely the outing of poverty and child labour used by multinationals in the third world, when this was publicised in the media it caused a backlash against these corporates. Also shaming the celebs who were used to advertise these products seem to work for a while, and some did run for cover. These campaigns are still ongoing but without the right backing and publicity seem to slip in and out of ...