‘Imagining others more complexly’: celebrity and the ideology of fame among YouTube’s ‘Nerdfighteria’

Smith, Daniel R.

doi:10.1080/19392397.2015.1132174

Cited by 13 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 22 publications

(17 reference statements)

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“…whereas YouTubers just go". This perception is consistent with previous research [38,79] and is likely why so many children identified with these characters (Theme 1).…”

Section: Theme 2: the Accessibility Of Youtubers Increases Children'ssupporting

confidence: 93%

“…Children also feel that YouTubers promote products that are more relevant [34,35], likely because influencer marketing is embedded in content that children have actively selected to watch [7,12]. In their videos, YouTubers regularly disclose personal details [37] and speak to the viewer directly [38]. Viewers can then communicate with them via YouTube's 'comment' and 'like' functions and as a result may feel a sense of familiarity with YouTubers [39].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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“It’s Just Addictive People That Make Addictive Videos”: Children’s Understanding of and Attitudes towards Influencer Marketing of Food and Beverages by YouTube Video Bloggers

Coates

Hardman

Halford

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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Exposure to influencer marketing of foods and beverages high in fat, sugar, and/or salt (HFSS) increases children’s immediate intake. This study qualitatively explored children’s understanding of, and attitudes towards, this marketing, to elucidate potential mechanisms through which exposure affects behavior. In six focus groups (n = 4) children (10–11 years) were shown a YouTube video featuring influencer marketing of an HFSS product. Inductive thematic analysis identified six themes from children’s discussions of this marketing: (1) YouTubers fill a gap in children’s lives, (2) the accessibility of YouTubers increases children’s understanding of their actions, (3) influencer marketing impacts all—the influencer, the brand, and the viewer, (4) attitudes towards influencer marketing are most affected by a YouTuber’s familiarity, (5) YouTuber influencer marketing is effective because they are not ‘strangers’, (6) children feel able to resist influencer marketing of HFSS products. Children had an understanding of the persuasive intent of this marketing, and although most were sceptical, familiar YouTubers elicited particularly sympathetic attitudes. Children felt affected by influencer marketing of HFSS products, but believed they were able to resist it. Beyond theoretical insight, this study adds to the growing body of evidence to suggest children’s exposure to HFSS influencer marketing should be reduced.

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“…whereas YouTubers just go". This perception is consistent with previous research [38,79] and is likely why so many children identified with these characters (Theme 1).…”

Section: Theme 2: the Accessibility Of Youtubers Increases Children'ssupporting

confidence: 93%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“It’s Just Addictive People That Make Addictive Videos”: Children’s Understanding of and Attitudes towards Influencer Marketing of Food and Beverages by YouTube Video Bloggers

Coates

Hardman

Halford

et al. 2020

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The video-sharing platform YouTube has been recognized as one of the chief galvanizing forces for the formation of fandom communities in contemporary consumer culture (Smith, 2016). YouTube vloggers – referred to interchangeably as ‘YouTubers’, ‘YouTube celebrities’ and ‘YouTube personalities’ – attract an audience of loyal fans who subscribe to their channels, in part due to charismatic personalities that are co-created, socially activated and made meaningful among their fan communities (Cocker and Cronin, 2017).…”

Section: The Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing collective effervescence: ‘Zomsumption’ and postemotional fandom

Cronin

Cocker

2018

Marketing Theory

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Based on an analysis of the YouTuber–fan community, we theorize the ‘living dead’ nature of collective effervescence under postemotional conditions. We introduce the concept of zomsumption, whereby ‘dead’ emotions are carefully synthesized, governed and presented as ‘living’ throughout the communal consumption of a totem. Here, we explore fans’ efforts to ensure the stability and longevity of their community through the lifelessness of their emotional behaviour. By forfeiting genuine and unfiltered emotions in favour of their rationalization and governance, fans access the illusory potential for more manageable forms of sociability and totemic worship. This outlook prompts us to reconsider the nature of the relationship between consumption communities and dominant structures of feeling. We suggest that consumption communities should not be presumed liberatory retreats from such structures as, contrarily, some may function as microcosms for reflecting and even incubating the wider postemotional order.

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“…Our analysis also clarifies and extends insights from recent celebrity studies scholarship such as Daniel Smith's theorisation of the YouTube persona as 'selfcelebratised' through conscious appeals to aspects of identity. For Smith (2014Smith ( , 2016, YouTube celebrities are "meta celebrities" (2014:272), as they become acutely selfaware of the surrounding conditions of their celebrity persona and knowingly emphasize, or sell, certain qualities of theirs in the content they produce (Smith, 2014:272). Our analysis highlights the active role of the audience in this process and argues that for these personal qualities to be realised and confirmed, they need to be endorsed and socially deconstructed by fans or followers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although recent work in celebrity studies has alluded to the process of celebrification on YouTube, the focus of these studies has been on the conscious efforts of the YouTubers themselves (see Smith, 2014Smith, , 2016 and little is known about the nature of these 'new cults of consumer celebrity' or the role of fans or followers in this process.…”

Section: Cult Of the Consumer-celebrity And New Routes To Famementioning

confidence: 99%

Charismatic authority and the YouTuber

Cocker

Cronin

2017

Marketing Theory

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In this paper we draw upon Weber's concept of charismatic authority to unpack the appeal that YouTube video-bloggers have galvanised amongst their fan communities. We explore how followers interact to articulate the appeal of British YouTube personalities and consequently, how they contribute to the nature of these 'new cults of personality'. By observing the content of seven of Britain's most popular 'YouTubers' and engaging in a sustained non-participant netnography of responses to these videos, we argue new cults of personality differ from their traditional counterparts through collaborative, co-constructive and communal interdependence between culted figure and follower. While Weber maintained charismatic authority has its source in the innate and exceptional qualities of an individual's personality, we submit that in consumer culture's current era of consent, the 'culting' of social actors becomes a participatory venture. We shed light on the fading and routinization of charisma and the dissipation of the relationship between the culted figure and followers.

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‘Imagining others more complexly’: celebrity and the ideology of fame among YouTube’s ‘Nerdfighteria’

Cited by 13 publications

References 22 publications

“It’s Just Addictive People That Make Addictive Videos”: Children’s Understanding of and Attitudes towards Influencer Marketing of Food and Beverages by YouTube Video Bloggers

“It’s Just Addictive People That Make Addictive Videos”: Children’s Understanding of and Attitudes towards Influencer Marketing of Food and Beverages by YouTube Video Bloggers

Managing collective effervescence: ‘Zomsumption’ and postemotional fandom

Charismatic authority and the YouTuber

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