New Fame Game is unforgiving

I have talked extensively about how the values of #genz and younger millennials are reshaping the concept of fame and creating new icons. 

Zennials such as Marcus Rashford, Greta Thunberg, Emma Raducanu and even cross-generational idols like Captain Sir Tom have built their reputations on authenticity, substance, consistency (lack of hypocrisy) and humility.
As if to prove this theory on the new DNA of fame, the antithesis of these values was on display in every corner of media land this week, with adverse consequences for all involved.

Firstly, in a fittingly 2022 update of Tolstoy’s How Much Lands Does a Man Require? – Stephanie Matteo, a reality TV contestant who achieved fleeting viral fame for selling her farts in a jar for $1,000 a po(o)p, was taken to hospital after allegedly trying to squeeze out one honker too many. 

Like Tolstoy’s Peasant, Pahom, greed and selfish ambition got the better of Stinky Steph, but there’s also a Comms lesson here: by becoming the ‘fart lady’ she pursued a fame devoid of substance that might’ve tempered the ridicule to which she was subjected this week. 

Then there’s NoVax Djokovic. The tennis legend apparently spends half his time off court wondering why he isn’t as popular as Roger or Rafa despite comparable career achievements, and the other half making spurious scientific claims including that even holding a piece of bread triggers gluten intolerance. Plain old anti-lockdown and anti-vax rhetoric seem almost mundane next to the more bonkers claims but it may have got him deported from Australia ahead of the country’s Grand Slam tournament. Again, there are reputations consequences; Djokovic’s lack of humility and substance in parroting crackpot theories unleashed a typhoon of criticism and leaves him vulnerable next time he talks about fair play, sportsmanship or unselfishness. 

Finally, Love Islander turned ‘girl boss’ Molly-Mae Hague has come under heavy fire again for the lack of self-awareness and ignorance of socioeconomic reality marinading her ‘why can’t the poor simply work harder’ and ‘you have the same 24 hours a day as Beyoncé’ attitudes. She reiterated these (paraphrased) positions on a podcast in the wake of accusations that fast fashion brand Pretty Little Thing, for whom she is paid a reported £500,000 annually to be ‘Creative Director’ were paying workers in UK factories just £3.50 an hour in what is being described as ‘sweatshop’ conditions – many pointing out that those factory workers don’t have quite the same 24 hours in their day as their boss… 

The hapless trio has broken nearly every rule of the 2022 fame game and, though they all still have their supporters, and Djokovic’s sporting achievements will maintain his ‘icon’ status in many eyes, all of their reputations have taken on damaging quantities of media and social media shrapnel this week from which it will take substantial time and care to recover.