TV and Trying to Escape Paris Hilton
I am likely the only Marketer in Canada with no cable. I canceled my cable five years ago after being convinced by my entertaining American boyfriend at the time to do so. From then on… and now I get my entertainment from books, music, the internet, other creative hobbies… because of this – I am constantly teased and taunted by my friends because I have no idea what is going on in pop culture… yet somehow, I still can’t avoid knowing what is going on in the life of Paris Hilton.
I try my best to avoid it – I never seek her out on the internet – and obviously don’t buy any of those celebrity magazines. But, regardless, I know that she was recently in Toronto, that she was in jail then got out, that she had a CD that flopped etc. etc. She is everywhere! I am not alone in resenting her celebrity. It is not as if she has a talent like some of the other celebrity obsessions like Michael Jackson or Angelina Jolie have. Or like the sports celebrities, where they have qualities in them of skill and determination that you can truly admire. She is famous for being famous – that’s it. That is what I find so annoying about things that are covered in popular media now – it is a lot of noise about nothing. With all of this celebrity worship, it is as if the whole world has turned into a boy-band loving teenage girl. It is bizarre.
I read Al Gore saying the other day that the average American watches four hours and 28 minutes a day of television, that is 90 minutes more than the global average. The average Canadian watches about three hours a day according to statistics Canada. And – I know there are still some quality shows out there… but something tells me that there is also lots and lots of Paris Hilton.
I saw some graffiti on the subway on a promotional poster with paris and her friend saying “why do these two girls deserve attention” – I couldn’t agree more..