Wanghong and Wanghong Economy: A Review Based on the Celebrity Theory

Abstract

Wanghong is a new-style celebrity and Wanghong economy is a new e-business model with the development of network. As Wanghong and Wanghong economy both are new phenomena of internet marketing and e-commerce with Chinese characteristics, academic research is still in an initial stage lagging behind the development of practice. Based on the celebrity theory and a literature review, this study initially defines the phenomenon of Wanghong and Wanghong economy theoretically, analyzes the influence factors of Wanghong and Wanghong economy, and explores their economic and social essence. Wanghong has evolved into the third generation with the development of internet technology from the late 20 century and the early 21 century. Compared to the first and second generation of Wanghong, the third generation has become a new form of internet economy which has diversified abilities of liquidity and huge commercial opportunities. Wanghong economy has developed a new type of e-commerce model, and potentially exerts influences on the ecological chain of entertainment industry, culture industry, manufacturing industry and so on. Wanghong is a new type of celebrity driven by a combination of technology, society and individual factors. Among these factors, the rapid development of technology is the technical support, the expansion of public space provides the path of realization, and the rise of neoliberalism works as their motivation. Wanghong, as a typical style of new celebrity, has widened the extension and the connotation of the celebrity theory and also promoted its development in modern society. From the perspective of sociology, Wanghong essentially is an organic and changing practice of presentation, while it is not a personal interior character or external tag. Wanghong, like a spectacle, has been practiced by more and more people: taking spectators as their fans, well keeping popularity by fans management, considerately constructing their image by self-presentation so as to be consumed by the public. With the increasingly mature of Wanghong production models, Wanghong would finally arrive at the same stage of the traditional celebrity, which is claimed to be changed. The celebrity has become a reasonable expectation of daily life from the original elite and magic status. From the view point of economic natural of Wanghong and Wanghong economy, Wanghong is the product of media and entertainment industry, and also keeps close touch with commodity consumption in the postmodern society. As merchandise, profit is the main pursuing goal of Wanghong. They gain payment of labor as a cultural worker and bonus as a financial asset. As a promotional tool, Wanghong, like the traditional celebrity, is usually shaped to be a perfect type of consuming behavior and consumption by media. On the one hand, media texts depict the celebrity’s consumption to strong spectacles and extravagance; on the other hand, they deliberately use some details of consuming behavior to construct a similar scene of the celebrity’s daily life as the ordinary. Wanghong could use the internet media themselves to perform the spectacle” and similarity” of consumption, and even obtain a better promotional effectiveness than the traditional celebrity. In future research, these following topics could be focused on: Firstly, the celebrity theory could be further studied and enriched based on the Wanghong phenomenon. Secondly, the personal branding and marketing mechanisms of Wanghong are worth studying. Thirdly, Wanghong economy needs to be studied from the theoretical and practical view point. Finally, some legal problems of Wanghong and Wanghong economy management should also be considered.