Celebrity, Convergence and Transformation

Bringing together the latest thinking on both celebrity brands and celebrity culture from academics specialising in the field of marketing, this book explores a range of insightful contexts in order to add vigour and vitality to our understanding of the connections between celebrities, markets and culture. It unpacks the identity theoretics which have their origins in the turn to celebrity culture and the spectacle and glamour of mass-media practices. In doing so, the contributors hint at new forms of individuation where the line between the virtual and the actual is blurred, and where images of celebrities construct and deconstruct themselves. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Marketing Management.

Introduction: Celebrity, convergence and transformation Douglas Brownlie, Paul Hewer and Finola Kerrigan 1. Marketing and the cultural production of celebrity in the era of media convergence Chris Hackley and Rungpaka Amy Hackley 2. Puppets of necessity? Celebritisation in structured reality television Alex Thompson, Lindsay Stringfellow, Mairi Maclean, Andrew MacLaren and Kevin O’Gorman 3. Producing and consuming celebrity identity myths: unpacking the classed identities of Cheryl Cole and Katie Price Hayley L. Cocker, Emma N. Banister and Maria G. Piacentini 4. The spectacularization of suffering: an analysis of the use of celebrities in ‘Comic Relief’ UK’s charity fundraising campaigns Ming Lim and Mona Moufahim 5. ‘And Ziggy played guitar’: Bowie, the market, and the emancipation and resurrection of Ziggy Stardust Andrew Lindridge and Toni Eagar 6. Nigellissima: a study of glamour, performativity and embodiment Lorna Stevens, Benedetta Cappellini and Gilly Smith 7. Fabricating celebrity brands via scandalous narrative: crafting, capering and commodifying the comedian, Russell Brand Scott Mills, Anthony Patterson and Lee Quinn 8. The authentic celebrity brand: unpacking Ai Weiwei’s celebritised selves Chloe Preece 9. The production and consumption activities relating to the celebrity artist Ian Fillis 10. Unpacking celebrity brands through unpaid market communications Fiona Davies and Stephanie Slater 11. Celebrities as human brands: an investigation of the effects of personality and time on celebrities’ appeal Renaud Lunardo, Olivier Gergaud and Florine Livat

Douglas Brownlie is Professor of Marketing and Consumer Culture in the School of Business, University of Dundee, UK. Paul Hewer is a Reader in the Department of Marketing at Strathclyde University, Glasgow, UK. Finola Kerrigan is a Reader in Marketing and Consumption at the University of Birmingham, UK.