Celebrity stimulus: Is Britney Spears good for the economy?

The Associated Press

She makes the world go 'round?

Featured Topic | Posted 43 weeks 3 days ago

Celebrity stimulus: Is Britney Spears good for the economy?

To the casual tabloid reader, Britney Spears' life looks like a train wreck. But Britney Spears is good for the U.S. economy. Seriously.

Conde Nast's Portfolio magazine this month takes a look at the "Britney-Industrial Complex" and finds a $110 million to $120 million economy. What's troubling might be who is cashing in: paparazzi, the tabloids, lawyers and... um, websites.

Is the healthy Britney Spears economy good or bad for U.S. culture and American taste?

Ben likes: The Britney-Industrial Complex

Richard Cohen/The Washington Post

The Britney Industrial Complex illustrates the economy's need for celebrity. Vast amounts of money can be manufacturing ones who appeal particularly to the young. Spears was once one of those, although at age 26 she has leaped that demographic boundary. Still, the breadth of her drawing power cannot be fully estimated. Portfolio's concoction does not, for instance, measure her worth to the morning television shows -- "Today," etc. -- which on any given day are mere adjuncts to the fan magazines. Nor can it measure what she is worth to us as a topic of common interest for our communal water-cooler moments. Even this column has, in a sense, exploited her.

Joel likes: Media are off their game

Bill Dwyre/Los Angeles Times

Our society has a massive appetite for drama, and little for reality. We read about Britney Spears when we need to read about Afghanistan. And the media, which has the mandate -- and the constitutional right -- to lead us from this abyss, are all too often not doing so. Media, which once led public opinion, now all too often follow it.

She isn't news. She's titillation. She is a troubled young woman whom we cover with delight, rather than empathy. She is web hits, the current fool's gold of the newspaper industry.