Exploration of the concept of celebrity and its importance within magazine publication:

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word celebrity as “ the condition of being much talked about; famousness, notoriety”.  This implies one needs to attain fame to become what is known as a ‘celebrity’. This fame can be achieved through many forms, normally associated with the creative industries, but can also be accomplished through reaching the very top of your chosen career field with it being documented so that it can be viewed by society. Mainstream global celebrities normally originate from the creative industry through mediums such as film, television, theatre, and reality TV.  Magazines popularise the celebrity, communicating news, trends, gossip and information valuable to the reader. Hence celebrity and magazines go hand in hand with one another, and each need the other to survive or attain fame.

As these two concepts fall in line with one another it is obvious that the concept of celebrity plays an important role in magazine publication. It is this concept  which provides information and images to fill the pages with, thus giving the customer a reason to purchase the magazine. ‘OK’, ‘NW’, Who’, ‘Famous’ and ‘Hello’ are all examples of magazines which are entirely devoted to celebrities, offering inside gossip, interviews and new trends associated with celebrities. These magazines are targeted at different age groups; this shows how important the concept ‘celebrity’ is to most readers.  

Magazines furthermore use celebrities as a form of inspiration to sell products or a look, thus reiterating the importance of the relationship between the two ideas of celebrity and publicity. Magazines such as ‘Shop til you drop’, ‘InStyle’, ‘Vogue’ and ‘Grazia’ present street style photos of celebrities from day to day activities, parties and red carpet events to show the reader how to ‘get the look’ with easier access and within a more affordable price range. These ideas and trends that the magazine publication is presenting to its audience  are originate in and are formed by the celebrity’s own personal choices. Celebrities are also used as inspiration for editorial and still life shoots in magazines, with ideas being based on the celebrities’ life and career. Advertisements in magazine also play an important role with magazine publication, as celebrities are often endorsed by companies to sell a product. This shows how important the concept of celebrity is within magazine publication. 

Magazine publications not only provide gossip, news and trends based on celebrities, they are able to cleverly use celebrities as a way to help the readers. This help is generally directed at the teenage market. Interviews delve into the celebrities’ real life,  how they got where they are, issues they have faced in their career, problems growing up, relationship advice and much more. This allows readers to relate to them, and the celebrity becomes a ‘role model’ to people around the world. The information the magazine provides can also benefit the celebrity, clearing up any issues or wrong views in the public eye, giving them the chance to correct themselves. It further benefits the celebrity, as it provides pr for them, keeping their name alive in the celebrity and social world. From this it is clear that celebrities’ importance in magazine publication is on a high scale, as both entities need each other for their own benefits. These benefits are in relation to money, as a magazine’s ultimate goal is to make money and when you’re a celebrity you are your own money-making business.

Therefore, it has been made apparent that the concept of celebrity is highly important to magazine publication, as without this concept, the magazine would not exist or be as successful or popular. The Celebrity’s role is such an integral part of the magazine, as they provide gossip, trends, fashion advice, aid product placement and play an important function as a role model.