Ok… so supposedly Rachel Ray doesnt even like Dunkin Donuts Coffee… why the fuck does anyone care though?
I snagged this link from Urban Bohemian’s del.icious links post of the day yesterday and I must say after reading the comment trail there (and contributing myself) I am so fucking fed up with the weight that celebrities have on what we say, do, eat, drink, wear, drive, listen to, who we fuck, what movies to see… I am tired of the deification of these people who have one or two talents above and beyond regular old people like you and me.
So, Beyonce can sing and is pretty… that does not make her a better human being than me, it does not make her worthy of dispensing advice to the masses, I don’t want to buy a cellphone with her name or “branding” either. She’s a regular person once you strip that voice and looks away what does she have? The same thing anyone other woman walking around does.
My favorite example of the deification of celebrities is… Oprah… or O as she seems to have ordained herself. I’ve tuned out of the cult of oprah several years ago and I’m quite glad of it. I can’t walk through the Barnes & Noble at work without seeing her ringing “endorsement” on several book covers. Precisely who the flying fuck is she that she can recommend what to read to the general public? What makes her a literary authority? Waits for it… that’s right NOTHING! So why are hordes of women slavishly devoted to what Oprah says to read, wear, eat, buy, go, do, the only thing thats missing is her dispensing marriage licenses and becoming St. Oprah of the Pretentious Women folk in Media.
I’m so sick of everything we do, buy, read, consume etc is somehow worthless unless a celebrity name is plastered all over it. Rachel Ray’s mug is now associated with Dunkin coffee, Lance Armstrong is all over NikeTown, U2 has an iPod edition, GAP ads have myriad celebrities in their ads, as if them wearing them for the couple hours it took to shoot the ad legitimizes the cool factor of GAP clothing… and the list goes on.
What ever happened to products standing on their own merits? What happened to commercials actually being about the product in the commercial and not some artsy bullshit that has nothing whatsoever to do with the product? I wish celebrities didnt hold so much bloody weight with what people buy, say and do. I wish people would think for themselves and stop being such godsdamned sheep about their consumer choices.
*sigh* I wish people would just think about what they endorse when they spend their money. Not buy because some celeb said so, or because its the latest miracle elixir to burn away fat that was touted on Oprah, Dr Phil, etc…
Published by cypheroftyr
Tanya DePass is the founder and Director of I Need Diverse Games, a not-for-profit organization based in Chicago, which is dedicated to better diversification of all aspects of gaming. I Need Diverse Games serves the community by supporting marginalized developers, attendance at the Game Developer Conference by participating in the GDC Scholarship program, helps assist attendance at other industry events, and is seeking partnership with organizations and initiatives. Tanya is a lifelong Chicagoan who loves everything about gaming, #INeedDiverseGames spawn point, and wants to make the industry better and more inclusive for everyone. She’s part of the Rivals of Waterdeep actual play stream on twitch.tv/rivalsofwaterdeep, a partnered Twitch variety broadcaster; and often speaks on issues of diversity, feminism, race, intersectionality & other topics online, at conventions and as a public speaker..
She’s also contributed to publications at Green Ronin, Paizo and Monte Cook Games and is the co-developer for the Fifth Season RPG based on N.K. Jemisin’s three time Hugo award winning Broken Earth trilogy. She’s the creator and Creative Director of Into the Mother Lands, a Twitch supported RPG and Actual Play stream, airing weekly on her channel, twitch.tv/cypheroftyr. Additionally, she is a Senior Annenberg labs Civic Media Fellow at USC. She’s also the creator and Creative Director of Into the Mother Lands, a new sci fi afro-futurist RPG developed with a team of all POC and Black creators; live streamed on her twitch channel, /cypheroftyr.
She’s named as one of The Game Awards Future Class 2020, a diverse group of builders, thinkers and dreamers whose voices elevate and diversify our artform. It recognizes individuals around the world who represent the bright, bold and inclusive future for video games. She was also named as one of Gamers of the Year 2020 by Kotaku along with three of her contemporaries. She was also invited to the Xbox MVP program in February 2021.
Her work to make the industry more inclusive has been highlighted in Game Changer, Directed by Tina Charles, WNBA star & olympian as well as filmmaker. The short documentary premiered at Tribeca 2021, as part of the Queen Collective; an initiative started by Queen Latifah, supported by Proctor & Gamble in an effort to get more Black women into film making. Game Changer was also featured as part of BETHer’s 2021 Juneteenth Programming on 19 June 2021.
Tanya is the programming & diversity coordinator for OrcaCon and GaymerX. She also serves on the Board of Directors for OrcaCon and was named the Chair for Take This in January 2023. She often speaks on issues of diversity, feminism, race, intersectionality & other topics at conventions. Her writing about games and games critique appears in Uncanny Magazine, Polygon, Wiscon Chronicles, Vice Gaming, Paste Games, Mic, and other publications. She’s the editor of Game Devs and Others: Tales from the Margins (2018, CRC Press) and contributed to The Advanced Game Narrative Toolbox. (2019, CRC Press)
Writer Bio for pubs: Tanya is the Founder and Director of I Need Diverse Games, a not-for-profit organization based in Chicago. She’s part of Rivals of Waterdeep, an actual play D&D show on twitch.tv/rivalsofwaterdeep; the programming coordinator for OrcaCon & GaymerX; and often speaks on issues of diversity, feminism, race, intersectionality & other topics at conventions. She’s on the Board of Take This as well as a Stream Ambassador, and was part of the inaugural cohort of The Game Awards Future Class. Her work to make the industry more inclusive has been highlighted in Game Changer, Directed by Tina Charles, WNBA star & olympian as well as filmmaker. The short documentary premiered at Tribeca 2021, as part of the Queen Collective; an initiative started by Queen Latifah, supported by Proctor & Gamble in an effort to get more Black women into film making. Game Changer was also featured as part of BETHer’s 2021 Juneteenth Programming on 19 June 2021.
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When you mentioned GAP this next comment gave me a grin because mainly the use of celebs is to distract people from the fact that thing X produced by companies A, B and C is still the same thing, they’re just trying to get you to buy theirs over anyone else’s.
But with GAP it’s even more funny since the same company is GAP, Banana Republic and Old Navy. They know people would be confused by multiple styles in a single store, so they split them up, charge wildly outrageous prices and people are satisfied with that.
Most people aren’t weird like me and wouldn’t go from one place to another tasting their coffees to compare them, they’ll just buy whichever is fronted by the personality they most admire.