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Avoiding ‘Star Wars’– Celebrity Creation as Media Strategy
Author(s) -
Franck Egon,
Nüesch Stephan
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
kyklos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.766
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1467-6435
pISSN - 0023-5962
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6435.2007.00369.x
Subject(s) - star (game theory) , value (mathematics) , quality (philosophy) , stars , advertising , popular media , business , computer science , sociology , media studies , physics , astrophysics , quantum mechanics , machine learning , computer vision
SUMMARY Media companies generally enjoy increasing profits if more customers watch a program. The viewer drawing capability of stars serves as a prominent instrument to increase the audience. The literature distinguishes between two different types of stars: highly talented and therefore ‘self‐made’ superstars, and famous but ‘manufactured’ and thus rather trivial celebrities. Whereas ‘self‐made’ superstars attract viewers by providing services of superior quality, ‘manufactured’ celebrities draw attention by fabricated fame. Illustrating the Pop Idol series and comparing the abilities of superstars and celebrities to generate and to capture value, we show why ‘manufacturing’ celebrities is a lucrative business for the media.