Living Dolls: How Affinity Groups Sustain Celebrity Worship
Celebrity worship attracts limited attention in the marketing literature. In this study, we examine adult celebrity worship within a fan club. Examining past literature, we find celebrity worship associates with certain religious behaviors and not others. Fans regard the celebrity as human, not God-like. Celebrity worship in the fan club appears healthy. Endowed with high emotional intelligence, fan club members do not exhibit pathology. They respect the celebrity’s privacy, understand their attraction is based on a carefully crafted image and see the humor associated with their obsession. The fan club provides emotional support across many aspects of their lives.
Citation:
Marylouise Caldwell and Paul Henry (2009) ,"Living Dolls: How Affinity Groups Sustain Celebrity Worship", in AP - Asia-Pacific Advances in Consumer Research Volume 8, eds. Sridhar Samu, Rajiv Vaidyanathan, and Dipankar Chakravarti, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 247-248.
Authors
Marylouise Caldwell, University of Sydney
Paul Henry, University of Sydney
Volume
AP - Asia-Pacific Advances in Consumer Research Volume 8 | 2009
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