INFLUENCERS

American Hysteria

W!ZARD Studios

Society & Culture, History

4.4 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 8 March 2021

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The new American archetype known as the “Influencer” has existed in various forms long before the advent of social media, and long before Kendall Jenner and the offensive brand activism of a now infamous Pepsi commercial. For this episode, we will trace the history of how corporate brands have used the idea of personal “authenticity” to sell us shit we don’t need since the mid 1800s: we’ll hear about the early form of visual social media that swept America in the 1860s, the story of the first living brand, Aunt Jemima, the handcrafted PR industry created by Sigmund Freud’s propagandist nephew, the skateboard sponsorships of the late 1990s. We’ll look too at the psychological and biological imperatives behind the “brand”, both those of companies and those of our own, and whether this thing we call authenticity even exists at all. Subscribe to Lolita Podcast now! Become a Patron to get access to our brand new podcast Walk with Me American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Sound design by Clear Commo Studios Research and co-writing by Riley Smith Co-produced and edited by Miranda Zickler Voice acting by Will Rogers Follow American Hysteria on social media: Twitter: @AmerHysteria Instagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Find our merch at americanhysteria.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	On this season, we'll be covering our vehicles of hysteria, how pop culture and the media shape our psychology and society, and how our national mythologies manipulate the realities we share and sometimes
0:24.0	the realities we don't.
0:26.5	I'm your host, Chelsea Weber Smith, and this is American Hysteria.
0:32.7	I'm a psychology of rest.
0:34.7	How can express your character?
0:36.9	Smile and happy and Gemila, famous for those secret recipes and cakes.
0:41.4	I don't know, I'm still trying to get sponsored, man.
0:44.0	Like, who doesn't want to be famous?
0:51.8	Bye guys, love you.
0:55.2	Thank you. Sprung forth from Paris Hilton's famous for being famous forehead was a young woman named Kim Kardashian and the now legendary family that surrounded her, who created a reality TV empire based on their authentic drama.
1:14.9	Eventually, it would garner them hundreds of millions of followers on Instagram.
1:21.8	Kendall Jenner is Kim's younger half-sister and a fellow influencer, who became in 2017 the face of one of the most
1:31.9	hated ad campaigns in American history.
1:36.1	The short film, as Pepsi Co called it, was almost three minutes long, starting with a
1:43.8	dewy, bright blue Pepsi can cracking open.
1:48.1	Next, a shot of an artsy man soaked in sweat, playing his cello on a rooftop until he hears a commotion in the street below.
1:58.9	And there he sees it, the happiest protest in American history.
2:05.2	A perfectly curated cast of multicultural millennials and gen Ziers who dance and hold handmade
2:13.4	cardboard signs with peace signs painted childishly across them, with one reading, join the
2:20.5	conversation.
2:22.2	Cut to a woman wearing a hijab, pouring over photos she's taken, unhappy with the shots,
2:29.7	until she too sees this joyous protest and joins. And then, there she is. The megastar,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from W!ZARD Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of W!ZARD Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.