Celebrity. Media and Transformation in the Asia Pacific

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Introduction
The celebrity culture has been spreading for the past few decades, and there is no sign that it will stop any time soon. Instead, celebrity elements have become popular in the news media of the 21st century where celebrities feature in mass-market magazines, nightly television programs, and online newspaper editions, among others (Turner 2010, p. 13). Celebrity news has played a significant role in attracting attention of individuals, driving consumption and influencing how people live in society. Unlike in the past where celebrities became popular by featuring into movies and songs which were aired on various television and radio programs, new channels of producing, representing, and consuming celebrity commodities have emerged. Today, individuals are capitalizing on the presence of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram, among others, to popularize their works (Turner 2010, p. 13). Nevertheless, traditional media such as television, radio, and magazine have not been fully abandoned. Through these media, an individual can disseminate their works all over the world and become popular overnight, which was not possible in the past where it took several months and even years for a person in a particular art genus to become famous. Celebrity culture has played a key role in shaping social, economic and political status of a particular country or region (Schaefer et al. 2010, p.2). Typically, celebrities’ actions influence a huge number of people compared to ordinary people. For instance, celebrities have huge numbers of followers on the social media platforms and are therefore bound to act as role models to several people following them.
In the academy sector, the concept of celebrity culture is one of the fast-growing industries has been widely debated, particularly in the social and humanity sciences over the past few decades. Social sciences including psychology have intensified talks about the lurking dangers of the rise of celebrity worship syndrome. This syndrome can corrupt the whole society and align it according to the beliefs and principles of a given celebrity or a star. Equally, celebrity aspect can be used to benefit society by promoting various norms and customs which would be difficult to spread using other means (Xu, Reijnders and Kim 2019, p.3). One of the celebrities that has used his position to influence society positively is Jay Chou who has used genre of music to promote Chinese culture all over China and the entire Eastern part of Asia.
Moreover, celebrity can itself be used as a commodity, and just like any other commercial item, it can be manufactured, marketed, and traded through publicity, promotions, and media industries (Schaefer et al. 2010, p.2). Therefore, celebrity as a commodity can repay the investment, strategic planning, development, and product diversification. Logically, the person concerned with a specific celebrity product, they view it as a commercial property that is vital to their profession, which must be strategized and maintained if they are to continue benefiting from it. Regarding what this means for the role played by ce...