A question that comes up again and again… is this wasted time pointing out incontinuities and problems amongst this online community? One nineteen-year old from Los Angeles calls out people on Instagram for posting pictures in fake Yeezy’s – Kanye West’s shoe brand (Welty, 2017). He says that on Instagram, seven out of ten times they are fake and sometimes the owners do not know so it is not their fault that they are promoting a falsely branded shoe but sometimes they are completely aware and just wanted the look for cheaper.
There are many different reasons and ways to expose online celebrities (and sometimes the celebrities even expose each other: for example, Kim Kardashian exposing Taylor Swift last year ((Enriquez, 2016)) – most common reason of course is calling out a fake. False advertising, false personas, false lives. These people live and show a life that others can only dream of, but because none of it is legit, people often feel a lot better about pointing out that they are not as perfect as it seems, and do not have all the wonderful things in their life come to them easily, they work hard just like everyone else.
Of course, these online celebrities (some of whom stick to one platform, others stretching out over many but usually stay most popular on just one, Twitter for example) are not doing anything wrong on purpose. They are not trying to misinform their audiences selfishly for no reason at all, even though sometimes it does seem that way. Instead, they are just doing as others are doing and as their sponsors tell them to do for their jobs.
Another side to consider is celebrity hacking that has happened a few times now which is not for any moral benefit for the audience but just for selfish pleasure is the phone hacking and release of personal photos. Not only just inappropriate photos but sometimes personal information as well – passport information for example. E! Reports that actress Leslie Jones was the latest victim in the pattern of persona hackings (Bacardi, 2016) which, although it does not apply to online celebrities, of course, they are at risk of as well, being in the public eye to a lesser degree.
In some sense those who expose these online celebrities are understated whistle-blowers for the online community. The definition of whistleblower is as follows: a person who informs on a person or organization regarded as engaging in an unlawful or immoral activity. As they call out those who are not genuine and are using their followers for financial opportunity. They only show the part of their life that their sponsors allow and make it seem as glamorous and inspiring as possible to maintain their audience, without this idealistic lifestyle, no one would care what they have to say. That being said, this is what people do normally on social media anyway, show the world just what they want it to see, not the hardships and negative moments. Everyone does this, Huffington Post says it is called “the social media effect” and in 2013 wrote an article called “Are you really who you portray online” and it talks about the perception of personas online. But celebrities have it to a different degree where they are famous purely because they it does not seem that they have faults and problems like everyone else.
Is it crucial to expose these celebrities for what they really are? Not necessarily, some just want the drama, others want truth to feel better about their lives in particular. For some, it may be largely beneficial to know the truth as it is easy to fall into the trap of believing most of what you see on the internet and feeling lesser because of it. However, for those that are aware and conscious of the fact that these are mostly fabricated, it is safe to say fro the most part it is not completely significant to overthrow these people’s stories and false personas that they have made such an effort to build up. That being said, audiences are not only gullible but want it to be true, they like to think that these people have it all and that it is possible to live completely stress free with no problem in the world, and to those people: let it be.
References:
Bacardi, F., 2016. A Digital Dilemma: Why Is Celebrity Hacking Always About Exposing Women’s Bodies?. E! Online, 25 August 2016, Available from: http://www.eonline.com/news/790079/a-digital-dilemma-why-is-celebrity-hacking-always-about-exposing-women-s-bodies [Accessed 21 January 2017].
Enriquez, J., 2016. ‘The moment Kim breaks the internet with her clothes on’: Social media explodes with hilarious memes surrounding Kardashian calling out Taylor Swift. Daily Mail, 18 July 2016, Available from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3695225/The-moment-Kim-breaks-internet-clothes-Social-media-explodes-hilarious-memes-surrounding-Kardashian-calling-Taylor-Swift.html [Accessed 21 January 2017].
Green, R., 2013. The Social Media Effect: Are You Really Who You Portray Online?. Huffington Post, 8 July 2013, Available from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/r-kay-green/the-social-media-effect-a_b_3721029.html [Accessed 22 January 2017].
Welty, M., 2017. Meet The Teenager Who’s Exposing Celebrities For Their Fake Yeezys. Complex, 11 January 2017, Available from: http://uk.complex.com/sneakers/2017/01/yeezy-busta-interviews [Accessed 21 January 2017].
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