Commentary
"Geniuses differ from ordinary men less in the character of their attention than in the nature of the objects upon which it is successively bestowed." – William James
The tale of Caroline Calloway might seem like an odd one, but in fact, her situation is neither unique nor modern. Calloway is the internet-famous Instagrammer who rocketed to stardom, signed a mid six-figure book deal, and then let it all crash down.
The article above was penned by Natalie Beach, her former friend and ghostwriter, who laid bare the true facts behind this cewebrity. Calloway made a reputation for herself as a gilded lily of a fairy tale, but she duped her fans and publisher alike as it all came crashing down.
Actress Felicity Huffman was recently sentenced to a prison term for her role in paying for her daughter's SAT scores to be rigged. While many thought that the term was too light, Huffman at least provided a forthright and honest apology for her actions.
These two cases that involve celebrity and special treatment, but the difference is that Huffman was more contrite and accepting of her responsibility. But both women have been exposed for their fraudulent behavior and are pariahs.
It's a lesson in the struggles of fame: fame, once tasted, can poison the mind and good judgement. It doesn't matter whether you're Hollywood famous, Internet famous, or neighborhood famous; it's human nature to let it go to your head.
The challenge of course is to fight it.
In the early 1800s, Lord Byron struggled with the new and powerful effect of fame. This was a time when the public would crowd around poets and authors, even showing up outside of their houses or stealing objects.
Byron's fame distorted everything around it and he found himself as "one of the earliest beneficiaries of a new kind of entrepreneurial celebrity forged in the furnace of rapid industrialization and no longer dependent on the authority of conquest, church, or heredity, Byron embodied a phenomenon that was new and unnerving in the range of emotions it could elicit and the power seemingly at its command." (Lapham's Quarterly)
Byron hired a doctor, John William Polidori, who was also an aspiring writer. As they spent more time together, Polidori became resentful of Byron's success and of his constant mocking of the doctor's efforts. He became brooding and violent, and Byron ultimately released him from service.
The doctor would eventually have his revenge though, writing a tale about a an aristocrat who preyed on women. This work was "an emphatic view of fame as a predator that grows strong through the sacrifice of superior values, while simultaneously condemning a celebrity-hungry society that exults in the ephemeral qualities of charisma and talent."
The full history is filled with more details, but the point is clear: there's something about this unquenchable search for fame that it compromises our good judgement.
Something to keep in mind whether you're an "influencer," hiring influencers, or are someone who actually is able to move the masses to action.
"What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous." — Voltaire | | Curated Stories
"I have gathered a posy of other men's flowers, and nothing but the thread that binds them is my own." – Montaigne
I'm Too Sexy for This Platform
Gucci made an error in a poorly designed sweater and has been paying for its poor judgement on social media ever since. (WSJ)
My take: live by the influencer, die by the influencer.
Do you have most of your social media efforts wrapped up in Facebook? You might want to rethink that. There's research to show where the eyeballs will be moving as you plan your 2020 resources. (Trust Insights)
My take: It's always healthy to reassess your spending and strategy. And there are fine folks like Trust Insights to help with that.
Simpli-fi-cay-ay-tion
How do you get ketchup out of a glass bottle? Everyone seems to have a favorite technique. Which is why Heinz redesigned its bottle (well, it's logo, actually) to show how to make the perfect pour. (YouTube)
My take: It's a fun and clever way to apply product design standards. Aside from plastic squeeze bottles, that is.
CEO Confessional
In an age of disruption, CEOs are desperate for help and they'll take it anywhere they can get it. In-house communications leads to the rescue? (PR Week)
My take: Change is happening faster than ever, and CEOs need calm, ordered, and strategic thinkers to help out (sound like anyone you know?). It doesn't matter whether it's from inside or outside. It's about perspective.
Psst: call me!
MoviePassed Away
MoviePass shut down for good last week. After multiple reboots and reduced service offerings, the movie theater subscription service just couldn't make it work. (CNBC)
My take: This was always going to be a difficult segment to win, especially with the rise of streaming services. Even so, the theaters are the ones with the most power, and they can (and do) create their own subscription offerings for their customers and manage it better than MoviePass. Rule #1 in disruption: if someone else owns the property (physical or intellectual), you're building on quicksand. | | For the Curious Mind
"Curiosity is the lust of the mind." – Thomas Hobbes
While we're on the subject of movies, you can't consider yourself a cinephile unless you've seen these 35 films. (IndieWire)
Instagrammers faking their luxury vacations have absolutely nothing on Sarah Bernhardt, the original meme maker, who posed for pictures sleeping in her coffin. (Jezebel)
September 11 was last week. In the United States, people have taken pains to banish the picture of "the Falling Man" from the record of September 11, 2001. The story behind it, though, and the search for the man pictured in it, are our most intimate connection to the horror of that day. A masterpiece of writing by Tom Junod. (Esquire)
| | Recommended Reading/Listening
"Let me recommend this book." – Arthur Conan Doyle
| | | Dirty John. Debra Newell is a successful interior designer. She meets John Meehan, a handsome man who seems to check all the boxes: attentive, available, just back from a year in Iraq with Doctors Without Borders. But her family doesn't like John, and they get entangled in an increasingly complex web of love, deception, forgiveness, denial, and ultimately, survival. | | | | The Confidence Game: Why We Fall For It...Every Time by Maria Konnikova. A way of looking at the fact that even the most intelligent among us can be victims to con men. How is it our instincts don't serve us better? This intersection of history and popular culture gets at the answer. | | | About this week's image
The painting above illustrates Alfred Tennyson's poem The Lady of Shalott. Draped over the boat is the fabric the lady wove in a tower near Camelot. But she brought a curse on herself by looking directly at Sir Lancelot. With her right hand she lets go of the chain mooring the boat. Her mouth is slightly open, as she sings 'her last song'. She stares at a crucifix lying in front of her. Beside it are three candles, often used to symbolize life. Two have blown out. This suggests her life will end soon, as she floats down the river. (Source: Google Art Project)
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