Over the course of the past 40-some-odd years, our entire concept of what constitutes a celebrity has changed dramatically. Right now, there are kids on YouTube being paid millions of dollars to unbox toys, for goodness sake.
Recently, public relations executive Danny Deraney proved that point after his tweet, which showed an ABC promotional video from the ’80s, went viral. It’s since got me thinking about the concept of celebrity as a whole and how the celebs of today compare to those of yesteryear.
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The ’80s were a wild time to be alive.
The ’80s was the decade of decadence as mass consumerism ran rampant. It was the era that helped give birth to the blockbuster movie and introduced strange new TV networks like MTV.
It was also a time when celebrity status reached unfathomable heights, producing some of the greatest stars in TV and film history.
It feels like such a long time ago and it can be difficult to remember precisely what was going on.
Now, thanks to a recent viral tweet from Danny Deraney, we’ve been given a glimpse into a window of the past.
Danny Deraney is considered to be one of the best public relations executives currently working in the business today. His client list includes Justin Timberlake, Madonna, and The Rolling Stones.
While Danny was perusing the internet, he stumbled upon an old ABC promo video.
The 1:15 minute-long clip shows a collection of the ’80s most popular celebrities, singing and dancing in support of the ABC television network, and you won’t believe some of the faces.
Among the brood are the likes of Joyce DeWitt, Burgess Meredith, and Henry Winkler.
If you look carefully, you’ll even be able to see the image of a very young-looking Tom Hanks , sporting a handsome afro. Boy, how the times (and fashion) have changed.
It got me thinking about how different it must have been to be a celebrity in the ’80s as opposed to today.
There was no such thing as a smartphone back in the ’80s. Social media certainly wasn’t around and the internet as we’ve come to know it today didn’t even exist!
Which basically meant that the only way to become famous was to be “discovered” by somebody already in the business.
Movie studios, production companies, and music labels held all the power. There was very little autonomy for actors and arguably even less for musicians.
But in 2022, the tables haven’t just turned — they’ve literally been kicked over.
Thanks to TikTok, content creators like Charli D’Amelio are making more money than most Fortune 500 CEOs. In 2021 alone, Charli ranked in an estimated $17.5 million .
Last year, former YouTube star/Disney Channel alum, Jake Paul, was the 3rd-highest paid boxer on the planet.
The only two boxers who brought in higher earnings than Jake was Heavyweight Champion Tyson Fury and the Undisputed Super Middleweight Champion, Canelo Alvarez.
Heck, the only reason that Justin Bieber was even discovered in the first place was because of YouTube!
People tend to forget that Justin wasn’t shipping demos off to record labels in order to hopefully sign a deal, but rather his mother was filming videos of him singing/drumming and uploading them on social media.
Some might argue that anyone can become famous nowadays, but why do we view that as a bad thing?
A dinosaur roars the loudest right before it goes extinct. Actors, artists, and musicians have become their own masters and have carved a path so that anyone can become famous. We shouldn’t be slighting them but rather celebrating them.
