Kardashians Research Paper

The Consumption of the Kardashians

Carling Hunt

500561747

Professor Jamin Pelkey

TA: Michael

ACS100-101

28 November 2015

The 20th century was an era of great transformation. It was the birth of department stores, automobiles and consumption durables. Advertising became a popular and effective means of promoting goods to the consumer through billboards, television, and print media. In turn, this revolutionized a modest, minimalistic way of life into a new culture of a consumeristic society (Mooers “Constructing the Consumer”). It was this revelation that sparked the gluttonous need for the ever new. In the 21st century, we consume so frequently that we do not take notice; consumerism consumes us. Consumerism is an integral

Subsequently, the celebrities that are symbols for these products become a product in themselves. In some cases, we buy products purely because a celebrity has worn it, endorsed it, or has been associated with it in another type of way. A consumer’s inclination towards materializing a lifestyle of a celebrity leads to the merging of the corporate and the self. This is extremely prevalent with the Kardashian family. The Kardashian family became celebrities through their reality television show Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Their stardom erupted and the Kardashian sisters, who are the main characters of the show, proceeded to launch clothing stores, beauty lines, and dominate on all social media platforms. The Kardashians are now known figures around the world. Because of this, what they consume or do influences the consumption and actions of individuals internationally. A Kardashian endorses a product and those who wish to look like or live like them, flock to buy it. This pattern is practiced in society amongst all age groups, although the celebrities whom we

The focus of his research and academic publishings was Media; what it can be used for, how it can be used, and effects that are a result of using media (Pelkey “Media and Ideology 1”). McLuhan theorized that the medium used to promote a message affects the way in which the message is perceived, coining the phrase “the medium is the message”. “The medium is the message because it is the medium that shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action. For the ‘message’ of any medium or technology is the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs” (Pelkey “Media and Ideology 1”). If a product is advertised on the radio, the perception listeners have will be different from the perception of those who see the same product on a television advertisement. McLuhan’s notion of “the medium is the message” has manifested over time and can now be applied to new mediums that were not around, or not popular, in McLuhan’s time. Social media platforms are a new medium that corporations take advantage of to promote their products to a large following of people. Platforms such as Twitter and Instagram are heavily used social medias that are regularly infiltrated with advertisements directed at a certain demographic of consumers. To further advertise products, corporations pay largely-followed users to