Almost Famous: A reflection on influencers and the fame economy

When I wrote about impermanence, I touched on the attention economy that dominates our culture. Today I want to explore another aspect of that, what I deem the fame economy. Since our species started organizing in large groups we have had “famous” people. Those figures were known across the land because of power, wealth, or ability. Right or wrong, they commanded attention from people due to things they’ve either possessed or had done. At first, this fame was highly localized, maybe it was a great warrior in the village or a king in a small fiefdom, but as we grew and information was able to spread quicker, so did fame. There were god emperors, tyrant kings, and renowned artists. Still, this fame wasn’t like what we have today. Your average person may have heard of these people but their day-to-day lives weren’t impacted by them. That impact went largely unchanged until the 20th and 21st centuries. 

Radio made it so that someone's voice could be heard broadly. It was a more direct connection with someone than the written word. TV did the same thing with sound and picture. Early on though, these mediums still didn’t provide the opportunity for mega followings like we see today. Shows were only on at certain times and days. Exposure was limited, so even if someone was popular it was distant. Things slowly changed though. Beatlemania is the perfect example of this. Through word of mouth and the spread of information, swaths of young fans became infatuated with this group. They craved any Beattle-related content and wanted to be in the loop. There’s a key difference here though between that fame and the fame we have today. For the most part, it was the art and the personalities of these young Brits that drove people crazy. They made great music and had a vibe that resonated with people. They didn’t make music just to be famous or make money, they made music to make music. 

There have always been people who just chased money in the arts, but because it was so hard to make money in the past, they often didn’t succeed. In order to actually make money you had to be good, really good. That began to change too though. A large part of that was with the advertising industrial complex. As our economy became more and more based on advertising, opportunities for artists grew. They got sponsorship deals and paid performances. Brands would pay to be associated with people who they believed could attract customers. With this influx of cash, we saw record labels start handing out deals to people who they deemed “marketable” oftentimes at the expense of real talent. This was just the start though because at least those “marketable” artists still had some talent. 

When social media first started no one thought you could make money off it. The early pioneers of social media were just having fun. They were making the things that they wanted to see and had groups of eager fans. This resembled the early days of other mediums. Then the brands took notice. This is where our fame economy really takes off. Internet fame was more monetizable than other types of fame. The platforms that these content creators created had ads built into them and people spent way more time on them than on the mediums of old. Almost everyone has a social media account and checks it multiple times a day. More than that, it was easier to partner with these creators. It’s a lot harder to get your brand in a song than it is in a youtube video or Instagram post. It’s just another video or post along with the countless other pieces of content being put out. These creators were still making things, but even that wouldn’t always be the case. 

The inflection point that everyone knows about is Kim Kardashian. A sex tape with a somewhat well-known musician gave her an insane amount of publicity and notoriety. That attention was then leveraged to create a billion-dollar empire of reality tv shows, cosmetics, apparel, and all sorts of other brand endorsements. Brands didn’t hire her because of her skills, they just knew that people knew her, so it would garner attention. Now I do think she had to put in some work to capitalize on the attention but her network and the advertising industrial complex did a lot of the work. There are plenty of people with real talents and skills who would never get the same opportunities. People took notice of that too, they realized that talent was no longer required to achieve the posh lifestyle, they just had to get famous somehow. With social media that was easier than ever. What she did and does has a very real impact on how people view themselves and the world. 

Brands took advantage of the desire for that lifestyle and started to sell it. The job of “influencer” was created. These were people whose job it was to live and look a certain way and flaunt it on social media so that consumers will buy the products that could help them emulate that lifestyle and look. There’s a great movie called “The Joneses” about a fake family whose sole job is to make everyone else in the neighborhood want to live their lives and in turn buy all the same products they have. It came out in 2010 but painted a frighteningly accurate portrayal of where we were headed. The difference is though that all of this is done now through a screen, with the ability to spread influence getting easier and easier as more people get addicted to social media. But like that movie, this influence pays. If you’re lucky enough to be in the top 1% of influencers then you can live like a Kardashian. This creates a flywheel of superficiality because the more famous you get, the more “influence” you have, and the more you get paid. It’s why the Kardashians are billionaires. It’s fame for fame’s sake, and the whole goal is to make other people want to be you. 

This is wreaking havoc on our priorities as a society. The number one thing that kids say that they want to be today is an influencer. Not because they think that would actually enjoy the job but because they want to be these people and want their lifestyles. This is very different from a kid saying they want to be an actor or a rockstar. Sure those jobs give you the lifestyle but there’s something there, there’s a skill, there’s talent, there’s work, there’s a real craft. You are your own person who’s developing your own unique style. Influencing is all about following trends and constantly trying to stay up with those trends against the threat of falling off. What they also don’t realize is that most of these people come from well-off families already. They have the resources to go live in hype houses or travel around the world. They’re selling a lifestyle that they already had in the first place. Being an influencer is an empty dream. It’s creating an illusion of a great life in the hopes that people will want to live that life, so in turn, they’ll buy the same products that supposedly give them that life. This a deeply unhappy lifestyle, that will leave our kids with body issues, anxiety, and depression. We’re already starting to see the effects with teen girls, and I think it can only get worse as time goes on. 

Granted there are talented people who are paid for their endorsements, just like there’s always been, but that’s not who we think of when we hear the word influencer. We don’t think LeBron is an influencer. We don’t think Billie Eilish is an influencer. When we think of influencers we think of people whose job it is to live a certain lifestyle and sell that lifestyle. It’s the world’s shittiest pyramid scheme. That’s what the fame economy is. It’s not about creating value or inspiring people to chase their own dreams like being an athlete or musician. It’s about creating a desire for a life that doesn’t exist. A life that isn’t about being happy or fulfilled, it’s just about fame for fame’s sake. It’s about influence. 

I do believe some of these people are genuinely talented and work really hard at what they do, they must in order to stay relevant. At the end of the day though what is that work giving them? What does it mean to be famous just for the sake of being famous? Where the only reason people know you is because of your so-called “influence”? What does it mean when we have a generation of kids who just want to get famous on Tik Tok? We’ll lose what makes us us, in that hope that we’ll have our 15 minutes of fame. That’s what I fear from the fame economy. As a society, I think we need to reevaluate what we want people to be known for and who we put the spotlight on. We’re capable of so much more than simply being famous as humans. Our kids deserve better, I want them to be known for their dreams, ambitions, and goals. They shouldn’t feel like they need to chase anyone else’s life, they just need to create their own. That’s real influence.