It’s true — we’ll always have Paris

Let me just say from the outset that I hate Paris Hilton and everything she stands for. I don’t just hate the fact that she’s shallow and has no good reason for being famous (apart from being from a well-known family, who aren’t nearly as rich as everyone thinks they are). And not just because of that stupid TV show either. I hate lots of other things, including her weird nose and that face she makes with her eyelids half shut that makes her look like someone with brain damage.

Hate or not, however — and it’s possible that many people love to hate her, just as they love to hate Jessica Simpson and lots of other airhead “celebrities” — the blogger known as Chartreuse hits the nail on the head with his latest post about why Paris Hilton is famous, and what marketers can learn from her, a post entitled “Why Paris Hilton Is Famous (or Understanding Value In A Post-Madonna World).” As Chartreuse puts it, Madonna was marketing 1.0 and Paris is marketing 2.0.

What’s his point? That Paris, having gotten attention with her ridiculous sex video — which was about as erotic as watching paint dry — used that attention to surreptitiously market anyone and anything that she was associated with or might want to be associated with, from fashion designers to dog food companies. Even in her comments about being arrested for DUI, she mentioned that she wanted to stop for an In-n-Out burger.

As Chartreuse notes, attention is the currency of Web 2.0, and Paris has gained more by deflecting it at the same time as she attracts it. In effect, he says, she is not a product but a *platform.* That, as one commenter says, is f***ing brilliant (check out the comment from Satan too). Chartreuse, I think it’s time to come out of beta.

Tagged as: chartreuse, Marketing, paris+hilton, Web2.0