Buying Beyoncé

Bibliographic Data

ID5675136
AuthorsErnest Cashmore (0000-0003-3432-5041, University of Staffordshire, corresponding author), Ellis Cashmore
Year2010
Volume1
Issue2
Pages135-150
Publication date2010-07-28
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCelebrity Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1939-2397 • E-ISSN: 1939-2400
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/19392397.2010.482262
OpenAlexW4239520299
LanguageTL
Citations received16
References cited13

The image of old racial order has been vitiated by the rise of a new variety of African American celebrities: acquisitive, ambitious, flamboyantly successful and individualistic; the kind of people who are interested in channelling their energies into their own careers, rather into indeterminate causes such as racism. In Beyoncé, the United States – and perhaps the world – has a symbol of glamour and unrestrained consumption that offers, if not a solution, then an apparent salve to the enduring effects of racism. The argument advanced here is that Beyoncé, singer, actor, entrepreneur, serial endorser and all-purpose celebrity, has risen in a post-9/11 era when race and racism were unwanted shibboleths and a new racial order was in construction. Early symbols of the new order were Bill Cosby and Oprah Winfrey. Beyoncé, like Tiger Woods, Halle Berry and other African American A-list members, are its current representatives. Beyoncé embodies a narrative, a living description of a culture in which race is a remnant of history and limitless consumer choice has become a substitute for equality. The analysis moves to an examination of how Beyoncé emerged and developed into a recognisable brand, her principal marketing alter ego being ‘Sasha Fierce’. The multiple products bearing her imprimatur and the revenue they generate suggest comparisons with a medium-size industry. Yet the most valuable product Beyoncé sells is a particular conception of America – as a nation where history has been, if not banished, rendered insignificant. Her ability to do so is predicated on her ethnic ambiguity: she claims to be ‘universal’, yet slides comfortably into a familiar discourse of exoticism essayed by earlier black female performers. A refusal to conform to existing categories combined with an insistence on the primacy of the market makes Beyoncé an exquisite commodity in a celebrity-fixated consumer culture although an unreliable indicator of black America. The evidence contrasts the image portrayed by Beyoncé with that of other black Americans and concludes with the proposition that the ‘dream’ she purveys has a potent didactic message

Advertising · Aesthetics · Art · Business · Individualism · Literature · Narrative · Political science · Racism · Sociology · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · History · Law · Media, Gender, and Advertising · Music History and Culture

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