Why is every celebrity trying to sell me something?

Are you more likely to buy some spicy mayo because it’s made by the star of a summer blockbuster? What about pet food, or a mobile network?

It used to be that you'd just buy a ticket to your favorite actor’s movie or your favorite singer’s concert, but now they're selling a whole lifestyle. What does that do to our relationship with celebrity culture?

Guest host Alice Wilder talks to Lindsey Weber and Bobby Finger, hosts of the pop culture podcast “Who? Weekly,” about the changing relationship between celebrities and consumers. Weber and Finger have a new book out, “I Want to Be Famous: When Everybody and Nobody Is a Celebrity,” which explores fame in the digital era.

A few takeaways from this episode:

• Motivated by money but also attention: “A celebrity's greatest threat is that people stop paying attention to them,” Weber says. “If they are doing things that don't interest us enough to keep us watching, then we’ll look away.” Many stars see brand extension as another strategy to stay relevant.

• The trickle-down effect of the influencer economy: These days, movie stars and rock stars are taking a page from the influencer playbook. Finger imagines celebrities asking themselves, “Oh, these random people, because they're famous on TikTok, think that they can sell stuff? Why can't I? I'm more famous.” Moreover, the constant barrage of influencer ad pitches on social media has eroded some of the shame we used to associate with selling out. “We're so used to seeing people sell stuff, especially celebrities, that we don't really care anymore,” says Weber.

• Successful brands are authentic to the celebrity’s identity. Some celebrity-backed business ventures can feel random, and consumers balk at products that don’t align with a celebrity’s personal brand. Weber points to Jennifer Lopez, who sells a line of canned cocktails…despite being sober: “You famously don't drink, so that’s kinda weird that you have an alcohol brand!” On the other hand, Finger points to Alix Earle’s Reale Actives skincare line as example that makes sense: “It's a brand that continues the narrative that you have already sort of established elsewhere, which is like, ‘I have bad skin. I struggle with acne, so I worked with these scientists to make this thing that matters.’”

• Fans aren’t turned off by celebrity products. Finger says that although celebrities have been more craven in the range of products they sell, “I've yet to see that sort of materialism and that sort of pursuit of capital affect a celebrity in an actually notable way. I've actually never seen it ruin them.” He thinks that audiences may briefly resent Beyoncé for selling a $948 wooden box, or Taylor Swift for releasing over 30 versions of the same album, but ultimately it won’t stop fans from buying tickets to their shows.

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