Publicity for Publicity’s Sake…..Or Something Like That.
Did you see this cover of US Weekly in the grocery store this week? I couldn’t bring myself to buy it, or even open it, because I don’t want to put one bit of mental energy toward this "Heidi" person from "The Hills" and her so obviously made-up relationship with that blonde guy. I mean, I love celebrity gossip, because sometimes it’s about talented people who have something to offer the world, but let’s be real. These people are not celebrities. They’re fame-hungry kids who are using the media attention to…..
This is the part I couldn’t figure out. You know, it totally makes sense to have celebrities on magazine covers and in publicity shots, and usually you see them more when they’re promoting something. Case in point: Liv Tyler is in alot of magazines right now, because her movie "The Strangers" just came out, same thing with Sarah Jessica Parker, Will Smith, Carrie Underwood, and anyone else who has something coming out soon that they want you to buy. That kind of media manipulation of public attention makes sense. Those people from "The Hills" baffle me because frankly, they’re old enough to have something to sell or promote, and yet most of them don’t. I mean, okay– Lauren Conrad has some clothing line, right? And this Heidi person might be a singer. But really, what they do is get fake publicity, and they’re not even good at that.
I guess what I’m getting at is this– it’s probably ok to go on television and make a quasi-ass out of yourself revealing personal things about your life if you actually have something you’re trying to get out there and share with the world. I mean, we may not all agree with the way marketing works in this country, but that’s how it is. But– marketing just the person, with nothing behind it just creates an empty cipher, a marketing of the very sign they’re marketing. It’s postmodernism at its best, really– a symbol ultimately referencing nothing. And in that way I guess I shouldn’t object, because Jacques Derrida would have found it amusing, at least. But he’s dead, you see, and not in the grocery store with me. So, I’ll just say– I don’t think reality tv people should be allowed to be on magazine covers or real tv shows unless they’ve created something to share with the world. Put that in your ceci n’est pas une pipe and smoke it.