Growing up in Paris, I remember seeing posters of a random person all around the city. There was no tagline, name or product attached; just his photo. I later found out this was a publicity stunt for someone who simply wished to become famous and therefore plastered his picture all over town in hope that people would recognize him on his daily walks to pick up baguettes.
With the popularization of reality TV, ordinary people could become famous for no apparent reason. Since you no longer need to prove anything to attain C-list Hollywood status, everyone started believing they too could be recognized on their way to buy a baguette. As fame becomes common, how does one stand out? And more importantly, are there limits to what people will do in order to be famous?
Last week's "Balloon Boy" fiasco is just another example of this ongoing stupidity. I do not want to give this family any additional publicity, so let's call them Mr. and Mrs. Hoax. For those of you who have been buried in midterms and haven't read up on this, Mr. and Mrs. Hoax had the world believe their son Falcon was soaring through the air in a homemade helium balloon. The prank turned on them when on
Larry King Live, little Falcon announced, "You had said that we did this for a show." It turns out that little Falcon was not the victim of excessive curiosity, but of bad parenting. Later, the scheme was revealed as an attempt by the parents to gain attention in the hope of landing a reality TV series.
Frankly, if you are going to go through all the trouble of making a floating device, hiding your son, and lying to the world, at least teach him not to spill the beans on live TV. The next morning Balloon Boy did more than just spill the beans; he spilled his breakfast on the
Today Show during an interview (again, live). This moment captures the essence of the entire scheme; it's sickening. Sickening that a family would put their son through such an ordeal just to be in the spotlight. Sickening that they would use a significant amount of state resources for a prank. Sickening that they would endanger the credibility of a real child victim. You go ahead and vomit, Falcon, because the world should be vomiting with you. The truth is we are addicted to meaningless entertainment that we pass off as news.
The issue here is not only that this family is deranged to the extent that they would create such a ruse, but that our culture allowed it to happen in the first place. Balloon Boy and related terms were the top 12 searches on Google on October 15 within hours of the incident being announced. This family is now receiving more publicity than they would have had their stunt succeeded. Perhaps they will get their wish and be on a reality TV show, although as the legal consequences of their scheme comes to light, that show might be
Court TV.
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FFcommunicator
posted 10/27/09 @ 7:42 PM EST
Really, the only legitimate way to become famous is to build a system that generates fans of your brand. Read "The Web Marketing Universe" for more information. (Continued…)
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