Do you want the Kardashian image??

                                        (Image: http://www.hdwallpapers3d.com/keeping-up-with-the-kardashians-pictures/)

Celebrity News has become a part of society. During the 1970s, the expansion lifestyle news and the development of pull-out section in entertainment ‘magazines’ ensured that the stories devoted to the rich and famous were indorsed in interview after interview (Marshall, P.D 2013 p2). Celebrity news is splashed across newspapers, magazines and all over the Internet. These stories have been made out to appear more important then the world news stories. Why is this? I believe that people need roll models to look up to and admire. Celebrities have the ability to do this through media exposure. They can influence and change opinions of their followers.  As such these celebrities have the ability to make change to culture and society.

The ‘Kardashians Klan’ has taken on the true meaning of being celebrities. This family started as a ‘normal’ family with two clothing stores and a lot of money. This was until Robert Kardashian (their father) was one of the lawyers working on the Oj Simpson trial, where the family began to get noticed by the media and had stories written about them. However, it wasn’t until Kim Kardashian started hanging out with other celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie and had a sex tape splashed across all media circuits, that the family started to make a name for themselves as they became recognised world wide. This family turned negative gossip into a multimillion-dollar empire by using the media. The family now have a number of different reality TV shows, clothing stores in multiple states, clothing brands, perfume, make up and accessories. All these products containing the Kardashian name can be found any where around the world.  As such these girls have created a celebrity economy,  ‘which is driven by future demand options, exposures, synergies among a host of other stock-market-derived terms, is exactly what has developed and intensified over the last century. Celebrity has helped organize the associated culture industries and in that way becomes a supporting and connected economy’ (Marshal, P.D 2010 p498).

                                                               ( Image: http://nicksaglimbeni.com/teaming-up-with-kim-kardashian-kris-jenner- for-skechers-shape-ups/) 

 It is interesting the way in which celebrities can be significant and value in contemporary culture (Marshall, P.D 2013 p5). People have always followed and been easily influenced by celebrity figures. They want to imitate them by dressing and holidaying in the same places as them. I have a friend who absolutely loves the Kardashians and will buy absolutely everything that they put their name to, whether or not the product is actually good.  She owns a handbag, wallet, clothes, Dvd’s from their reality show, perfume and their books. She would spend $5000 on their items even more to ensure that she can  buy any new items that they bring out.  I am sure there are other people who are blinded by the celebrity status endorsements and have spent the same or more money. Marshall uses the idea of ‘affective power’, which I defined as the ‘capacity of celebrities to embody emotional investment in some way’ (Marshall, P.D 2013 p9) and that is why they buy their products. I believe this also works in connection with psychology. It is believed that people can make associations between a product and their love with a celebrity. As such, if a person likes the celebrity they are more likely going to buy their product. As a result this is why many companies have celebrity endorsement. For example, Kim Kardashian is famous for her good ‘booty,’ so she became the celebrity endorser for ‘Shape ups’ shoes, so that if you wear these shoes you too could get a ‘booty’ like Kim, but in reality she probably never has worn these shoes until she was asked to endorse and was paid to. Thus the shoe company had a surge in sales due to her face being part of the advertising campaign.  This happened again when Kim got married to Kris Humphries. Kim was given a range of different jewelry, dresses, food and decorations for their wedding in hope that people would see them and buy them for their own weddings. She is probably the only person in the world who has made money on a wedding instead of spending it. However, this did back fire on companies due to her quick divorce and people creating a negative association with the products. 

Greece is a beautiful country and a great place to holiday, but due to their political and economical issue tourism has decreased considerably.  So, when the ‘Kardashian Klan’ recently went to Greece, they filmed it all and showed it on their T.V show. They showed where they stayed, the beautiful views and the different tourist attractions that can be seen. Inspiring all their viewers to go to Greece and experience it for themselves. The Kardashian fame influenced many of their loyal followers to take a trip to Greece and as such helped to improve their tourism. Consequently, the Greek prime minister was overwhelmed by their visit and thanked them personally, for helping to improve the Greek economy and tourism. The Kardashians have ‘transformed labour economy, shifted and reorganised society’ (Marshall, P.D 2013 p11) by pushing these products and holiday destinations to their followers they have increased their fame and fortune as well as their popularity.

The Kardashians have kept their fame and popularity by taken on the celebrity spectrum; they use the idea that they are always being looked at to their advantage (Marshal, P.D 2010 p499). These girls keep up a persona by using social media to push their products, fame and fortune. Marshal believes that ‘social networks have been at the heart of the organisation of culture since time immemorial and that what is occurring now is nothing new – it is just channeled differently’ (Marshall, P.D 2013 p7). I agree with this idea because people are now always on the Internet and can easily access any information. The Kardashians use this forum to push their fame and products. Each member of the family has their own twitter and facebook accounts, where they express how they are feeling and what is going on in their lives. Accordingly, the Kardashians have the ability to keep up their persona. Kim was originally just known for her sex tape and for fame searching, but she has now had the ability to change her image by using social media to clean up her image. She writes about her work and her public events, so now people see her as a hard worker. I believe that the Kardashians focus on their work persona (A persona in this instance is designed to circulate publicly in some way; it is designed to brand the person so that others who control capital will find their portfolio the exact element they need to add to their company (Marshall, P.D 2013 p7)) because they constantly tweet about their products and what they are doing. For example, Khloe recently, tweeted about their new ad for their clothing store. By doing this she is already giving publicity to the ad so people will look out for it, in which will reinforce them to buy their product.

They have also used social media to create and control their own publicity. Kim recently had a baby and instead of having the picture published in a magazine for millions of dollars (which was reported in the media), Kim allowed her mum to post the first image of her daughter North West.  By doing this the Kardashians have taken control of how they are to be viewed by the public and control the media by making Kim seem less money hungry and searching for attention. Therefore, they have the ability to construct and reconstruct their image depending on how they want the public to view them. Plus they have used the idea of the celebrity spectrum to reinforce their fame by having a reality TV show.  The show works in the same way that social media does, as it allows them to edit the parts of their life that they do not want people to see and only include bits that reinforce their persona that they want to portray. This theme is continued through interviews and magazine coverage exposure to endorse their celebrity image and reinforce their fame.  This exposure allows the Kardashians to reach out to other people that my not know them resulting in widening their exposure and fame base.

We have the ability to do this within our own social media. Subsequently, ‘all of these forms of information sharing tools is that they are user driven’ (Barbour K. and Marshall P.D 2012 p15). On facebook we have the ability to write statuses, in which people can like, however, we need to choose what we write carefully, as we want to create our own image. We also choose what images we put up and which images we are tagged to, each choice is to create and construct our own image. You have the ability to be the person who you want other people to see you as. For example, I have seen many people as soon as they are 18 years old take lots of pictures of themselves drinking and partying, then the next day they will upload them and post them on facebook. I believe that this is a way for them to influence others, that they are ‘cool’ because they go out and drink and party.  

However, the everyday person cannot keep up this persona. When getting a job it is known that companies have been checking people’s facebook and other social media to get an image and personality of potential employees. Many people for this reason try to ‘clean up’ their Facebook profiles when applying for a job (including getting rid of the images that they believe make them look cool to their friends). This is all good for their Internet image but if the person is really a party animal, the employers will come to the conclusion that they will come into work: late, will be hung over, unreliable, not a good image for others in the office and for the business.

So one day if you post enough images and continuously filter them through our social media, you too could end up like the Kardashians. That is rich and famous. Lets hope! 

(Image: http://technorati.com/social-media/article/facebook-to-announce-500-millionth-user/) 

Reference: 

Marshal, P.D 2010, ‘The Specular Economy’, Society, vol. 47, no. 6, pp. 498-502

Barbour K. and Marshall P.D. 2012, The Academic Online: Constructing persona through the world wide web, First Monday, vol 17, no. 9, [available: http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3969/3292

Marshall, P.D. 2013 , Persona Studies: mapping the proliferation of the public self, Journalism, June 4. online edition.