OT: Britney Economics

[NealIsGod]

It's pretty amazing that this idiot generates so much money for the economy. What is her appeal?

From today's Washington Post

Britney Economics
The most useful magazine journalism of the (still) new year comes to us not from the usual sources -- Newsweek, Time, etc. -- but from Portfolio, a business publication. It has enumerated the vast amounts of money Britney Spears is worth not just to herself, but to others as well -- about $110 million to $120 million annually to the struggling U.S. economy. This is what Portfolio calls the Britney Industrial Complex.

Spears' ubiquity goes without question. She gets the sort of coverage only dictators, potentates or absolute monarchs can command or even dream of. "Between January 2006 and July 2007, Britney was a cover subject of People, Us Weekly, In Touch, Life & Style, OK!, or Star a total of 175 times in just 78 weeks," Portfolio tells us. And on Yahoo, just to throw another statistic your way, she was the No. 1 search subject in six of the last seven years. Her single slip to No. 2 came in 2004, when she was bested by Paris Hilton -- a dark, dark year for us all.

Portfolio says a Las Vegas nightclub reportedly sold seats next to Spears' table for $50,000. (I'd like to see a cover story on those people!) Spears herself gets a reported $250,000 to $400,000 just to appear at an event, giving new meaning to Woody Allen's observation that "90 percent of success in life is just showing up." At Spears' prices, Woody would no doubt show up 100 percent of the time.

Portfolio's point, and mine as well, is that Spears is big business -- and ought to be viewed that way. She herself still makes oodles of money -- about $9 million a year, the magazine says -- and maybe has a personal fortune of about $125 million. In a way, though, she is worth as much to others as she is to herself, if such a thing is possible. One photo agency, X17, sold $2.5 million worth of Spears pictures in 2007, and although it did not do better with Britney than Britney did with Britney, it didn't have to pay Kevin Federline $35,000 a month in child and ex-spouse support either.

The Britney Industrial Complex is a handy tool to examine more than just Britney Spears. It also explains why Hillary Clinton's human backdrop changed from Iowa to New Hampshire. On election night in Des Moines, Clinton surrounded herself with familiar figures, some of them not so young anymore, while Barack Obama had a backdrop of youthful faces radiating pheromones. By New Hampshire, Clinton had younged-up her crowd, suggesting she was now, like Obama, an agent of change.

A major difference between young people and older ones is that the former are likely to spend their last cent on whatever attracts them. Why not? They usually don't have kids or mortgages, or live with the fear that their boss has blown the money that was in their 401(k) accounts on his mistress. That being the case, young people are beloved by marketers who will flatter them just so they can reach into their pockets and take their last penny. This, in an abridged form, is why we have come to see young people as somehow inherently wise and able to peek into the future. Marketers have lied to them in the same way that a man on the make tells a woman that she is -- cross his heart and hope to die -- the loveliest of all things. In America, the consumer is never wrong.

Portfolio's Britney Industrial Complex illustrates the economy's need for celebrities. Vast amounts of money can be made by manufacturing ones who appeal particularly to the young. Spears was once one of those, although at age 26 she has leaped that demographic boundary. Still, the breadth of her drawing power cannot be fully estimated. Portfolio's concoction does not, for instance, measure her worth to the morning television shows -- "Today," etc. -- which on any given day are mere adjuncts to the fan magazines. Nor can it measure what she is worth to us as a topic of common interest for our communal water-cooler moments. Even this column has, in a sense, exploited her.

It is one thing to do an economic analysis of Britney Spears and still another not to see her as a sad, updated version of the lumpy prizefighter from more than one black-and-white movie. She's taken too many punches and soon those who have attached themselves for the ride will drop off. As Portfolio shows, the Britney Industrial Complex represents an economic truth -- as good a reason as any for economics to be called the dismal science.

[Saint John]

Good for her. I like Britney Spears. Better her than those thug rappers.

[metalico]

Good for her. I like Britney Spears. Better her than those thug rappers.

I totally agree. She knows what sells.

[The Sushi Hunter]

It's pretty amazing that this idiot generates so much money for the economy. What is her appeal?

It's her youth. Look at how much publicity she got when she flashed her bearded clam to the media when she was stepping out of the limo with Paris Hilton. Have her try that shit when she's 50+ and it's going to be a whole different ballgame. She gets away with all this because she's young and she's attractive. Depending on how she takes care of herself, all this appeal is going to go away as soon as her bloom passes. Once the bloom is gone, if she's not straightened out her act, it will be too late. If she doesn't, her last performances will be giving blow jobs under highway overpasses. Isn't too much sexy about a washed up bag lady.

[scarygirl]

I pray that she wises up soon. She really needs our prayers and not our ridicule.

[StoneCold]

I pray that she wises up soon. She really needs our prayers and not our ridicule.

Unless she's trying to deflect attention off her sister's pregnancy.

If not, she's not far from going postal or overdosing.

[STORY_TELLER]

Good for her. I like Britney Spears. Better her than those thug rappers.

I totally agree. She knows what sells.

Took her cues from Madonna if you ask me. She's the originator, only more intelligent.

[mikemarrs]

It's pretty amazing that this idiot generates so much money for the economy. What is her appeal?

It's her youth. Look at how much publicity she got when she flashed her bearded clam to the media when she was stepping out of the limo with Paris Hilton. Have her try that shit when she's 50+ and it's going to be a whole different ballgame. She gets away with all this because she's young and she's attractive. Depending on how she takes care of herself, all this appeal is going to go away as soon as her bloom passes. Once the bloom is gone, if she's not straightened out her act, it will be too late. If she doesn't, her last performances will be giving blow jobs under highway overpasses. Isn't too much sexy about a washed up bag lady.

her last performances will be giving blow jobs under highway overpasses huh?

[The Sushi Hunter]

I pray that she wises up soon. She really needs our prayers and not our ridicule.

You ever hear of tough love? Well that's what she needs right now. She's been given prayers and no ridicule and that's what got her here in the first place. It's time she gets a good wakeup call. And yeah, that was the kiss of death that Madonna gave her because if you really look at the big picture, that was the beginning point of her downward spiral.

[jrnyman28]

No, what she really needs is to get the fuck out of California!! Go home. Or find some little town in Montana to buy a home. Get out of the paparazzi infested, celebrity-overkill capital of the world. How about this new-age notion: Find herself!!!

[NealIsGod]

She needs Saint John to bang her 'til she's sane.

[stevew2]

It's pretty amazing that this idiot generates so much money for the economy. What is her appeal?

It's her youth. Look at how much publicity she got when she flashed her bearded clam to the media when she was stepping out of the limo with Paris Hilton. Have her try that shit when she's 50+ and it's going to be a whole different ballgame. She gets away with all this because she's young and she's attractive. Depending on how she takes care of herself, all this appeal is going to go away as soon as her bloom passes. Once the bloom is gone, if she's not straightened out her act, it will be too late. If she doesn't, her last performances will be giving blow jobs under highway overpasses. Isn't too much sexy about a washed up bag lady.

When she is 50 that bearded clam will look like like somebody took a weedeater to it, nobody will want to see it,unless she doesnt new shit like Madonna,{wonder what that looks like} she will be forgotten

[mistiejourney]

I pray that she wises up soon. She really needs our prayers and not our ridicule.

Mental illness is not pretty, and this is what I am seeing in all this. She needs prayers, yes, but she needs to realize she is sick or someone needs to shake it into her and get her help. This is waaaay past getting publicity. I don't know if it's Bipolar or Borderline personality, but she is spiraling fast.

It's not fun to watch

[Shadowsong]

When will we wise up &
tell those fuckin people
shoving this shit down our throats
that we don't want it!

I don't care what a crazy slut skank she is
I think she is a spoiled brat on drugs & it's out of control
& I'm glad the authorities are trying to protect her kids.

It's our own faults
that we feed into the hysteria.

I guess we have such mundane lives that we need to
have others feed our minds with there dribble.

California unfortunately
is built on illusion
A whole economy based on
those who act & write for us
We loose touch with reality
Fall into the false vanity
that creates icons out of a few
so that the rest can vegitate
in front of the screen!

Society has become one of the spectator
When we should be doing something we are passionate about
we have instead become lobotomized sheep.
I for one don't appreciate it
but that's just me...

[The Sushi Hunter]

No, what she really needs is to get the fuck out of California!! Go home. Or find some little town in Montana to buy a home. Get out of the paparazzi infested, celebrity-overkill capital of the world. How about this new-age notion: Find herself!!!

I had a girlfriend once who told me she needed to "find herself" and do a little soul searching, so she took a little trip somewhere and cheated on me. So that's a bullshit cop-out. And if you think that packing up that hunk of shit she calls a truck and move to Montana to buy a home will get her away from the paparazzi, that is one big mistake because they'd be on her ass like stink on shit no matter where she bails to. She needs to stand up, take full responsibility for her shitty actions and then get good and pissed off at herself for turning into such a huge shitbag. Go public by stating what a panty waste Dr. Phil is for taking advantage and capitalizing from her situation and then give up all her vises and face reality that she's no better then anyone else on this planet. Right now she's a little princess on her high horse right now and she expects to be treated as such. Afterall, she's been treated that way more then half of her life already.