Jed Medina, from our partner the Movie Fanatic, has written an excellent and in depth article for Project Flans. Jed will be posting Part 1 of his article on the Move Fanatic, while we will post Parts 2 -4. This is a MUST READ for every fan. Dedicated or not. Please read, pass it on, and read again. Jed lays down exactly the spirit of the Project into his article and it should not be missed.
II. PEREZ HILTON: A CASE STUDY
Perez Hilton is Mario Lavadeira in real life and is the consummate celebrity blogger. With his signature snarky remarks targeting any and all celebrities, he makes his living celebrating other peoples’ misfortunes, tragedies and spotlighting scandals.
I remarked earlier that writing letters to Hilton will not give fans what they want – for this celebrity blogger to have a change of heart and start becoming friendlier and nicer to celebrities, in particular Robert Pattinson and the Twilight cast, we need to target something else.
If fans want change, they need to target his earnings.
Let’s see his current state of affairs…
Perez Hilton is a case study in the business that is blogging.
However, while websites such as People, E Online and a host of entertainment sites that belong to a big network capture a significant portion of A-list advertisers, Perez Hilton has to settle with small advertisers that sell T-shirts, sunglasses and dresses.
No Sony, no Apple, no Nokia, no high-prestige advertisers. Not even a McDonald’s ad or a spread featuring the latest ads from a fashion house such as Prada or Gucci or Calvin Klein. Heck, why would these brands advertise on Perez Hilton, right?
But of course, he does earn a lot from blogging.
Says Entrepreneur.com:
Lavadeira doesn’t release his annual earnings, but BlogAds, the company that sells his advertising, lists a one-week, top-of-fold skyscraper ad at $16,000 for 41 million impressions–and that’s just one of many ads on the site.
Ad positions in Perez Hilton’s blog are managed by BlogAds. There is now a strategic ‘push’ to launch a friendlier blog that will further promote the Perez Hilton brand.
More details can be read via paidcontent.org:
When you think of Perez Hilton, the phrase “advertiser friendly” doesn’t jump to mind. But the shock blogger is planning a new site that promises to be just that, according to Media Post. That’s a big leap from Hilton’s current site, PerezHilton.com, which specializes in very short, exclamation-mark filled entries mocking celebrities. It calls itself “Hollywood’s Most-Hated Website!”
Henry Copeland, the CEO of BlogAds.com, which sells ads for PerezHilton.com, tells paidContent that the new site is expected to launch in August and that more details will be made public in coming weeks. One impetus for the move may be the success of Microsoft’s new MSN Wonderwall site, which launched earlier this year to impressive traffic. and has proudly sold itself to advertisers as “snark-free.” Lloyd Braun, the co-owner of BermanBraun, which is partnering with Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) on Wonderwall, said in April that “Wonderwall is a site that you don’t have to take a shower after you’ve read. Advertisers want no part of that. We’ve been up three months; we’ve never had a complaint from an advertiser, an actor or an agent.”
PerezHilton.com’s traffic continues to grow, according to Compete.com, but a quick look at the site shows that, unlike Wonderwall, it is not bringing in big-brand advertisers. Instead, the site is filled with a mishmash of ads, mostly for smaller clothing websites (Of course, that’s just a day’s sample but it’s still not a positive sign).
Of course, the only way for this enterprise to become successful is for advertisers to place ads on the new ‘blog’.
So, instead of writing letters directly to Hilton, fans can target his advertisers.
We’ll initiate and then we’ll tell you the results.
There are such things as backfires and backlash!
Perez Hilton maybe popular and attracts an impressive traffic, but his snarky remarks that sometimes appear as insults, mockery and innuendoes can also backfire.
Take the case of Michael Jackson and his insensitive remarks to the fallen idol.
Says mashable.com:
One blogger doing unprecedented damage to the social media cause (and in fact undermining the credibility of all bloggers) is Perez Hilton: upon learning of Michael Jackson’s hospital admission, he posted the following, shockingly offensive piece, alleging that Michael was “lying” or “making himself sick”.
Your browser may not support display of this image.The post has now been updated on his site to temper this gross insensitivity, but we fear the damage to the blogging community has already been done.
Meanwhile, a backlash called #unfollowperez is attempting to shame the blogger through Twitter.
Is this affecting Hilton at all, perhaps it does…?
So, I think this one might work, but to what extent, I’m not very sure. However, the point is, to start the initiative, and we got nothing to lose anyway…
But this has to be a concerted effort. There is a need to make an official launch and then start with the assault.
Says the Blog Herald:
My my. It comes as no real surprise that Perez Hilton alias Mario Lavadeira doesn’t write all those posts himself. It has, in fact, been hinted at previously. Defamer, aka “the Hollywood column” on Gawker, got their hands on a lawsuit that confirms that it is not Mario Lavadeira who writes PerezHilton.com, but his sister Barbara. Naturally, they went digging and found out that Barbara is living a normal life, as opposed to her somewhat controversial celeb blogger brother.
Gosh! Are we going to fight fire with fire? I mean, stoop down to his level and spread rumors about Perez Hilton???
I guess Gawker and the rest of his competitors can do that for us. All we have to do is help them. Is that fair? Are we acting just like him? Will the end justify the means?
I guess this one remains to be the subject of discussion. That’s why we’re here and you’ve spent the time reading this. Is Rob worth fighting for? How about Kristen and the rest of the Twilight cast? Not to mention those celebrities who suffered from the hands of Mario!
Is this what you call Karma? I guess it is….
In summary, here are the points to consider:
1. Mockery and insults can backfire;
2. Prestige: a term the celebrity blogger is still trying to attain (in vain, if I may add.)
3. Advertising: the lifeblood of Hilton’s business.
4. There is such a thing as Karma
III. SOME ISSUES FOR FANS TO CONSIDER
Your favorite celebrity will continue to be hunted by the paparazzi, and their private lives will be invaded many times over. But as a responsible fan, you can make a big difference.
There is power and influence in numbers. The fandom can do something, however, there is a need to coordinate, consolidate and come up with a strategy. In the meantime, what are the issues we have to consider?
1. You are what you read. Do you indulge yourself reading celebrity gossip and enjoy looking at pictures of your favorite celebrities taken by the Papz? Then ask yourself, am I contributing to Rob or Kristen’s misery? It’s funny when I was thinking of what example I can mention: shark fins soup. Remember that CNN ad when an Olympic swimmer swims with lots of sharks?
2. Is life too boring you need to attract attention? Do you really want to become famous, and talk about how you managed to hug and kiss Rob? Is life too boring that you’re willing to embarrass and humiliate yourself? Think again, am I that crazy fan girl???? WTF
3. Lessons from the past. Do you want your favorite celebrities to take drugs or become alcoholic just to be able to survive being the target of the media and the fans? (Think River Phoenix and Heath Ledger)
IV. THE FINAL WORD
I read somewhere that gossip is a normal occurrence in a society that thrives. But in order to maintain some sort of order, gossips are discussed and resolved. That can only happen in a society where freedom and responsibility are prevalent.
As intelligent human beings, we also need to be compassionate and considerate sometimes. Let us look at this issue in another perspective.
As a fan, am I contributing to my favorite celebrities’ misery and tragedy?
The issues that they (the actors and actresses) need to get used to what’s traditional and therefore, the status quo is no longer valid.
They need to get used to it, therefore they suffer… WTF
There is a need for change and we can be the instrument for such change.
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